County table of trophy winners (Sussex sixth equal)

Borderman your Essex stats are wrong. Since 1979 they have won 6 Championships, 3 60 over cups, 2 55 over cups and 5 versions of the 40 over league making 16 trophies in all.

As  requested by hh, broken down into four periods of 12 seasons - so virtually half a century overall...


The figures along side each county refer to the number of trophies won in the relevant period:


                         1967-78         1979-90           1991-2002           2003-2014

Derbys                  0                   2                      1                           0

Durham               n/a               n/a                     0                           5

Essex                    0                  9                      4                            3

Glam                    1                  0                       3                            1

Glos                      2                  0                       5                           2

Hants                    3                  2                       2                           5

Kent                    11                  0                       2                           1

Lancs                    6                  4                       6                           1

Leics                     4                  1                       2                           3

Middx                    3                  9                      2                            1

Northants               1                  1                      1                            1

Notts                      0                 4                      1                            3

Somerset                0                 5                      1                            1

Surrey                    2                 1                       6                           3

Sussex                    1                2                        0                           7

Warwicks                 2               2                        8                            4

Worcs                      2               4                        2                            1

Yorks                       3               2                        2                            1




It's quite fascinating, isn't it? What is clear is that no side in the last 50 years  has dominated in the way that Kent did during the Cowdrey/Underwood/Knott era - and no county has declined so catastrophically since (although to be fair nobody else had so far to fall).

Essex and Middlesex were the teams of the 1980s by some way, Warwickshire the team of the 1990s and Sussex have won more trophies over the last dozen years than anyone else. Nine counties managed to win at least one pot in every era, including Northants and Leics whose supporters you would guess must be pretty contended with that, given their limited resources.

But boy, that Kent side  of  '67-'78 was spectacularly triumphant - easily the most dominant team of the last 50 years and successful in three different formats. That probably gives them the edge over the great Surrey side of the 1950s, which only had the championship to dominate.

92 as it happens fraudster, and that's why I was interested in seeing the breakdown. What that shows is that whilst there is a cyclical element, of teams reaching successful peaks, declining, then rebuilding - and that is the Leicestershire story, that offers hope for their future - there is a historical context running throughout. That is really borne out by the story of Kent's 70s triumphs, tailing away almost completely despite their continued recruitment of top-quality overseas players in the 90s and early 2000s.  Counterpointing this is the Durham story of 15 years or so of build-up, with false starts, good and bad decisions on imports, ending up in the development of a successful blend.