There shall be no limit to the number of first-class counties. The M.C.C. Committee may bring new counties into the list, may remove existing ones from it, or may do both.
The list for 1895 is as follows:—
| Derbyshire Essex Gloucestershire Hampshire Kent | Lancashire Leicestershire Middlesex Nottingham Somerset | Surrey Sussex Warwickshire Yorkshire |
THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP.
After the close of each cricket season, the Committee of the M.C.C. shall decide the county championship.
It shall be competed for by first-class counties. No county shall be eligible unless it shall have played at least eight out and home matches with other counties, provided that if no play can take place owing to weather or other unavoidable cause such match shall be reckoned as unfinished.[14]
One point shall be reckoned for each win; one deducted for each loss; unfinished games shall not be reckoned.
The county which during the season shall have, in finished matches, obtained the greatest proportionate number of points shall be reckoned champion county.
At the meeting of County Secretaries on December 6th, 1898, it was moved and carried as a recommendation to the M.C.C. that the number of out and home matches qualifying for the championship should in 1899, in view of the Australian visit, be again reduced to six. This was subsequently agreed to by the M.C.C., Worcestershire having at the Secretaries’ meeting secured six out and home matches with leading counties, made formal application to the M.C.C. to be promoted to a place among the first-class counties, and on December 12th their request was granted, subject to the usual regulations being complied with.