Since Middlesex won the first Inter-county billiards championship in 1903, the event has experienced a very patchy history, having been apparently "dead and buried" on several occasions since that date. However, after some experimentation with formats, and a brief flirtation with a championship for club teams, the current one-day format operated by the EABA seems to have established the competition firmly on the billiards calendar once more.

The latest event on Sunday 19th December 2004, attracted 15 teams of three players to the Atack Snooker Centre in Nuneaton. It was run on a knock-out basis, with each team member playing a one-hour game and the result decided on total aggregate score.

Over the last decade, teams from Cleveland have dominated this competition, although on this occasion their representatives appeared under the regional identity of "Teesside", possibly due to the vagaries of national boundary changes. However, the change in name did not disguise the quality of their players, as the team of Darren Kell, Mark Hatton and Billy Bousfield secured the title once more, beating Lincolnshire "A" 799-534 in the final.

Yorkshire were the defending champions, and fielding an unchanged squad comprising Steve Crosland, Richard Lodge, and Bob Patterson, they opened the competition strongly, defeating both Derbyshire and Hampshire by handsome margins. In the semi-final they were drawn against Teesside, but despite winning two of the three games, lost the match 705-672! Mark Hatton was the hero for the Teessiders, his 73 point win over Steve Crosland being enough to see his team through to the final.

In the other semi-final, Lincolnshire 'A' beat Cornwall by an impressive 222 points. Rob Hall made a break of 136 in winning his game, and was supported by team-mates Alan Edmunds, son of the ex-world professional champion, and Jamie Green, who had also recorded a century in the previous round.

The final proved more one-sided than might have been anticipated from previous results, the Teesside trio winning all of their games with some ease. Mark Hatton, who completed a successful day undefeated, proving to be the mainstay of the team.

Although main competition saw only two century breaks, Jim McCann provided a fitting climax to the day as he made a run of 204 in the final of the Plate. This was his highest competitive break and it helped Derbyshire to win this secondary competition for teams eliminated in the first round. They defeated the Lincolnshire "B" team 817-475.