2015 Minor Counties Championship

The 2015 Minor Counties Championship was the 111th Minor Counties Cricket Championship season, and the second under the name 'Unicorn Counties Championship'. It was contested in two divisions: Eastern and Western. Cumberland won the competition for the third time after defeating Oxfordshire by 10 wickets in the final played in Carlisle.[1]

2015 Minor Counties Championship

Administrator(s)	England and Wales Cricket Board
Cricket format	(3 days, 4 day final)
Tournament format(s)	League system
Champions	Cumberland (3rd title)
Participants	20
Matches played	61
Most runs	Jacques du Toit (770 for Northumberland)
Most wickets	Chris Peploe (50 for Berkshire)

Standings

• Pld = Played, W = Wins, W1 = Win in match reduced to single innings, L = Losses, L1 = Loss in match reduced to single innings, T = Ties, D = Draws, D1 = Draw in match reduced to single innings, A = Abandonments, Bat = Batting points, Bowl = Bowling points, Ded = Deducted points, Pts = Points, Net RPW = Net runs per wicket (runs per wicket for less runs per wicket against).

Teams receive 16 points for a win, 8 for a tie and 4 for a draw. Teams also received 12 points for a win, 6 for a draw and 4 points for losing a match reduced to a single innings. Bonus points (a maximum of 4 batting points and 4 bowling points) may be scored during the first 90 overs of each team's first innings.[2]

Eastern Division

Team	Pld	W	W1	L	L1	T	D	D1	A	Bat	Bowl	Ded	Pts	Net RPW
Cumberland (C)	6	5	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	17	24	0	125	+15.541
Buckinghamshire	6	4	0	2	0	0	0	0	0	12	18	0	94	-4.565
Staffordshire	6	3	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	18	20	0	90	+7.834
Lincolnshire	6	3	0	1	0	0	2	0	0	10	21	0	87	-0.688
Northumberland	6	3	0	3	0	0	0	0	0	14	24	0	86	0.663
Hertfordshire	6	2	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	18	20	0	74	-4.785
Bedfordshire	6	1	0	3	0	0	2	0	0	19	21	0	64	-0.876
Cambridgeshire	6	2	0	4	0	0	0	0	0	10	23	-2	63	-2.684
Norfolk	6	1	0	2	0	0	3	0	0	12	23	0	63	0.531
Suffolk	6	1	0	5	0	0	0	0	0	16	22	0	54	-10.151
Source:[3]

Western Division

Team	Pld	W	W1	L	L1	T	D	D1	A	Bat	Bowl	Ded	Pts	Net RPW
Oxfordshire	6	5	0	1	0	0	0	0	0	18	24	0	122	+15.268
Berkshire	6	4	0	0	0	0	2	0	0	13	24	0	109	+6.534
Shropshire	6	2	0	1	0	0	3	0	0	22	24	0	90	+8.705
Cornwall	6	3	0	2	0	0	1	0	0	15	22	0	89	+1.419
Herefordshire	6	2	0	3	0	0	1	0	0	17	22	0	75	-1.053
Wales Minor Counties	6	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	13	21	0	74	-1.382
Wiltshire	6	2	0	2	0	0	2	0	0	9	24	0	73	-3.123
Dorset	6	1	0	3	0	0	1	0	1	8	19	-2	53	-8.017
Cheshire	6	1	0	4	0	0	0	0	1	6	20	0	50	-12.515
Devon	6	0	0	4	0	0	2	0	0	16	24	0	48	-9.043
Source:[3]

Final

6–7 September Scorecard

Oxfordshire	v	(H) Cumberland
85 (40.4 overs) RI Kaufman 17 (56) T Bulcock 4/18 (10 overs)		170 (48.2 overs) JR Tolley 45 (88) LC Ryan 5/37 (16 overs)
89 (42 overs) CB Keegan 29 (16) RJ Gleeson 3/14 (13 overs)		5/0 (0.2 overs) JR Tolley 4* (1)

Cumberland won by 10 wickets Edenside, Carlisle Umpires: Martyn Dobbs and Andy Hicks

• Cumberland won the toss and elected to field

Averages

Most runs Aggregate Average Player County 770 64.16 Jacques du Toit Northumberland 763 69.36 Luke Thomas Bedfordshire 730 73.00 George Thurstance Bedfordshire 702 70.20 Steve Leach Shropshire 612 61.20 Sam Arthurton Norfolk Source:[4]

Most wickets Aggregate Average Player County 50 16.08 Chris Peploe Berkshire 49 14.85 Toby Bulcock Cumberland 46 14.38 Paul McMahon Cambridgeshire 46 20.60 Bradley Wadlan Cornwall 35 14.62 Luke Ryan Oxfordshire 35 19.65 Gurman Randhawa Shropshire Source:[5]

References

1. "Dominant Cumberland claim title". ECB. Archived from the original on 22 April 2016. Retrieved 11 April 2016.
2. "Unicorn Counties Championship Competition Rules" (PDF). England and Wales Cricket Board. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2016-03-05. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
3. "Unicorn Championship 2015 Points Table". CricketArchive. Retrieved 28 July 2015.
4. "Minor Counties Championship 2015 Batting (Ordered by runs)". Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 September 2015.
5. "Minor Counties Championship 2015 Bowling (Ordered by wickets)". Cricinfo. Retrieved 13 September 2015.