2017 County Championship

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. 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.

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. 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. Ahead of the season, each team played a first-class match against a MCC University team.

Teams
The 2017 Championship was divided into two divisions, Division One with eight teams, Division Two with 10 teams.

Teams in both divisions played a total of 14 games, with all Division One teams playing each other twice, while Division Two teams played five counties twice and four once.

Division One
Team promoted from Division Two

Division Two
Team relegated from Division One

Standings
Teams received 16 points for a win, 8 for a tie and 5 for a draw. Bonus points (a maximum of 5 batting points and 3 bowling points) could be scored during the first 110 overs of each team's first innings.

Fixtures
The fixture list for the 2017 season was announced in November 2016.

July
{{Two-innings cricket match collapsible }}
 * date = 3–4 July 2017
 * team1 = Glamorgan
 * team2 = Gloucestershire (H)
 * score-team1-inns1 = 117 (32.1 overs)
 * runs-team1-inns1 = Aneurin Donald 39 (41)
 * wickets-team1-inns1 = David Payne 3/37 (9.1 overs)
 * score-team2-inns1 = 141 (41.2 overs)
 * runs-team2-inns1 = Kieran Noema-Barnett 34 (39)
 * wickets-team2-inns1 = Michael Hogan 3/25 (8.2 overs)
 * score-team1-inns2 = 158 (55 overs)
 * runs-team1-inns2 = Andrew Salter 31 (77)
 * wickets-team1-inns2 = Liam Norwell 6/38 (18 overs)
 * score-team2-inns2 = 137/0 (31.3 overs)
 * runs-team2-inns2 = Chris Dent 68not out}* (99)
 * wickets-team2-inns2 =
 * venue = College Ground, Cheltenham
 * toss = Gloucestershire won the toss and elected to field.
 * umpires = Neil Bainton and Russell Evans
 * motm =
 * rain =
 * report = Scorecard
 * result = Gloucestershire won by 10 wickets
 * stack = yes
 * notes = Points: Gloucestershire 19, Glamorgan 3.