| Administrator(s) | England and Wales Cricket Board |
|---|---|
| Cricket format | First-class cricket (4 days) |
| Tournament format(s) | League system |
| Champions | Essex |
| Participants | 18 |
| Most runs | Kumar Sangakkara (1,491) (Div 1) Luke Wells (1,292) (Div 2) |
| Most wickets | Jamie Porter (75) (Div 1) Joe Leach (69) (Div 2) |
The 2017 County Championship (known for sponsorship reasons as the 2017 Specsavers County Championship), was the 118th cricket County Championship season. It was announced in March 2016 that the season would feature eight teams in Division One and ten teams in Division Two, meaning that at the end of the 2016 season only one team was promoted from Division Two whilst two were relegated from Division One.[1] The first round of fixtures began on 7 April, with the final matches completed on 28 September. All of the fixtures starting on 26 June 2017 were played as day/night matches.[2]
Following a series of financial "bailout" payments made by the England and Wales Cricket Board to Durham during the 2016 season, the county, which had finished fourth in Division One at the end of the season, were relegated to Division Two in place of the eighth place team, Hampshire.[3] Durham were also placed under a salary cap administered by the ECB until 2020 and started the 2017 Championship season with a deduction of 48 points.[3] Ahead of the season, each team played a first-class match against a MCC University team.
- ^ County Championship: Only one promotion spot in Division Two this summer, BBC Sport, 7 March 2016. Retrieved 2017-01-25.
- ^ "County Championship: Day-night games provide Test warm-up for England stars". BBC Sport. Retrieved 25 June 2017.
- ^ a b Cite error: The named reference
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