Paul Dyson looks back at the events of 1870 when Yorkshire repeated its success of three years previously. The picture of George Freeman comes courtesy of Mick Pope.

In the seemingly interminable period before 1890 – when the County Championship was officially constituted – Yorkshire were deemed to have being crowned ‘champions’ on just two occasions. The first of these was in 1867 and the second in 1870 although in 1869 the county were declared ‘joint-champions’.

Yorkshire’s first match of the 1870 season was not against another county but was one which was the first of its type and which would be repeated for exactly 100 years. It is not clear how this fixture’s origins came about – there is no mention of it in Yorkshire’s minute book of the time. Apart from playing annual matches against Oxford and Cambridge Universities the Lord’s-based Club had regular games against only four southern counties although Lancashire appeared briefly from 1867 and Nottinghamshire two years later. However, Yorkshire remained on MCC’s fixture list for an early-season game and from 1875 it appeared at what became the Scarborough Festival for the first time and so the two teams met each other twice in almost every season until the various pressures took their toll after 1970.

Related News

View all news
Jordan Thompson

Jordan Thompson to Leave Yorkshire CCC

The Yorkshire County Cricket Club can confirm that Jordan Thompson will leave the Club at the end of his current contract.

Read more

Yorkshire 2nd XI vs Derbyshire 2nd XI - SECC 4 Day

This was day 1 of the 2025 2nd X1 Championship season. Yorkshire won the toss and elected to bowl.

Read more

England vs India - First Rothesay Test Match - Pre-Match Guide

Ahead of the first Rothesay Test Match of the summer, the pre-match guide includes all the information spectators will need ahead of their trip to Headingley.

Read more

Sign up to our newsletter

For all the latest news, previews, ticket, membership and Premium Experiences information and more exciting content from Yorkshire Cricket straight to your inbox, subscribe now.

To view our privacy policy, click here.