Cricket in England

The eighteen first-class counties are the top level men's cricket teams. They are named after historic English counties and include one Welsh county, Glamorgan.

The English first-class counties are:

The full name of the cricket team is usually formed from the name of the county followed by the words County Cricket Club, which are often abbreviated as CCC.

The following games are considered derbies:-

• Roses Match – Yorkshire v Lancashire
• Battle of London (Cross-Thames Derby) – Middlesex v Surrey
• South Coast Special – Hampshire v Sussex
• West Midlands Derby – Warwickshire v Worcestershire
• West Country Derby – Somerset v Gloucestershire
• East Midlands Derby – Notts v Derbyshire
• North Derby – Yorkshire v Durham

The opening first-class game of an English county cricket season has traditionally been played at Lord's between the MCC and the Champion County (the club that won the County Championship the previous year). When the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) plays against one of the first-class counties, the game is granted first-class status.

Oxford and Cambridge universities played their first match against each other in 1827. After the advent of first class cricket, matches between Oxford and Cambridge, and between either of those two universities and another first class side, were considered first class matches, with the status applied retroactively to earlier matches. Counties started playing matches at other universities in the 1980s, the first being Nottinghamshire vs Durham University at The Racecourse in 1981, but these were not granted first class status.[6]

The first University Centre of Cricketing Excellence (UCCE) was established at Durham University by Graeme Fowler in 1996.[7][8] The success of the Durham centre led to it being adopted as a national model by the ECB in October 2000, with the establishment of six UCCE sides (two – Durham and Loughborough – based around a single university; the others bringing together players from multiple institutions) playing from 2001 in a two-day match competition with a final at Lord's. From 2001 the Oxford and Cambridge matches against the counties were no longer considered first class games, but each UCCE played three early-season matches against county sides, which acted as pre-season warm-ups for the counties,[9][10] and for Oxford, Cambridge and Durham UCCEs these were considered first class. Matches between counties and Loughborough UCCE were considered first class from 2003.[11]

The MCC took over funding of the scheme from 2005, and from 2010 the UCCEs were rebranded as MCC University (MCCU) teams.[12] A further re-arrangement in 2012 granted first-class status to all six MCCUs, but only for two of the three matches against county sides each season.[13]

The MCC ceased funding the programme in 2020, with the organisation transferring back to the ECB.[12] The matches between the MCCUs and counties, and the annual University Match between Oxford and Cambridge, were no longer considered first class matches after 2020.[14] No MCCU matches were played in 2020 due to COVID,[15] although the last first class Oxford-Cambridge match was played that September.

As of 2022, pre-season matches with first class counties are played under the name of "English University Matches" (according to the ECB website, although Wisden uses the term ECB University Matches), and Exeter has been added to the universities participating.[16][17] Both the ECB and Wisden list the university teams participating in these pre-season matches as MCCUs, but they compete in British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS) limited-over matches as UCCEs.[18] Inter-university matches outside of BUCS and the Oxford-Cambridge match have not, as of 2022, resumed after COVID.

The university teams that have played first-class cricket, the dates when they held that status, the universities they represented and the number of first class matches played are:[19]

Teams representing a single university:

• Cambridge University CC: 1817^a–2020, Cambridge University, 1479 matches^b
• Oxford University CC: 1827^a–2020, Oxford University, 1366 matches^b
• Durham UCCE/MCCU: 2001-2020, Durham University, 48 matches
• Loughborough UCCE/MCCU: 2003-2020, Loughborough University, 41 matches

^a Date of earliest first class match listed on the Cricket Archive; formal first class status from 1895.
^b Includes matches prior to 1895 regarded as first class by the Cricket Archive; see First-class cricket § Retrospective classification of matches played before the definitions.

Teams representing multiple universities:

• Oxford and Cambridge Universities cricket team: 1839^a–1992, Oxford and Cambridge university; 18 matches^b
• Combined Universities/British Universities cricket team: 1993–2006, all UK universities; 13 matches
• Cambridge UCCE/MCCU: 2001–2020, Cambridge and Anglia Ruskin universities, 48 matches
• Oxford UCCE/MCCU: 2001-2020, Oxford and Oxford Brookes universities, 47 matches
• Cardiff MCCU: 2012-2020, Cardiff, Cardiff Met and South Wales universities, 16 matches
• Leeds/Bradford MCCU: 2012-2020, Leeds, Leeds Beckett and Bradford universities and Bradford College, 14 matches

^a Date of earliest first class match listed on the Cricket Archive; formal first class status from 1895.
^b Includes two matches prior to 1895 regarded as first class by the Cricket Archive; see First-class cricket § Retrospective classification of matches played before the definitions.

The Oxford and Cambridge Universities team played 18 first class matches against touring sides from 1839 to 1992, including two before official first class status started in 1895. The Combined Universities (British Universities from 1995) team, formed originally from Oxford and Cambridge but including other universities from 1987, played in the limited overs Benson & Hedges Cup from 1975 to 1998 and played 13 first class matches against touring sides from 1993 to 2006.[20][21] The MCC Universities team (formed from the six MCCUs) played various matches from 2007 to 2017, including entering the Second XI Championship from 2009 to 2017.[22]

The eight women's teams represent "regional hubs" and are partnered with the counties in their region. Each team has at least six professionally contracted players.[23][24]

• Central Sparks – Herefordshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Warwickshire & Worcestershire
• Lightning – Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire & Loughborough University
• Northern Diamonds – Durham, Northumberland & Yorkshire
• North West Thunder – Cheshire, Cumbria & Lancashire
• South East Stars – Kent & Surrey
• Southern Vipers – Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Dorset, Hampshire, Oxfordshire, Sussex & Isle of Wight Cricket Board
• Sunrisers – Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Essex, Hertfordshire, Huntingdonshire, Middlesex, Norfolk, Northamptonshire, Suffolk & Marylebone Cricket Club
• Western Storm – Cornwall, Devon, Glamorgan, Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire & Cricket Wales

Originally scheduled to start in the 2020 season but postponed until 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Hundred is a 100 ball cricket competition which consists of eight city-based franchise teams, each of which field both a men's and women's team, in a league format.[25]

• Birmingham Phoenix
• London Spirit
• Manchester Originals
• Northern Superchargers
• Oval Invincibles
• Southern Brave
• Trent Rockets
• Welsh Fire