List of historically important English cricket teams
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The purpose of this list is to identify historically significant English cricket clubs and teams which played in matches that had either important or first-class status. It concentrates on those which are now defunct or, if extant, not currently significant. Therefore, the list excludes County Championship clubs, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), touring teams, and the main university clubs. Clubs in the Minor Counties Cricket Championship, or in one of the ECB Premier Leagues, are excluded unless they formerly played in important or first-class matches.
Some clubs which originally folded were subsequently refounded as modern league clubs. Many of the teams are combinations of recognised clubs or counties–for example, the combined Hampshire, Surrey & Sussex team in 1729.[1][2] For the most part, ad hoc XIs (elevens) formed by individual patrons or organisers for one or a few matches are not included here; exceptions are the likes of C. I. Thornton's XI, H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI, and T. N. Pearce's XI which became well-established over several seasons. The ad hoc XIs are listed at List of occasional English cricket XIs.
The total column gives the number of matches that the team is known (i.e., given that many early records have been lost) to have played in. In the source column, if only one citation is given, it relates to the earliest known mention of the team in the surviving records. The list is not necessarily exhaustive.
While the scope of the article is strictly historical, and in no way statistical, it has been necessary in a few cases such as Rutland and the MCC touring teams to temporarily cite CricketArchive, pending discovery of more credible offline sources.
Note. Where a team name is preceded by a † symbol, there is or will be a redirect to this list.
"A to C" was in fact a Kent Eleven and it was a curiosity that they selected only players whose names began with A, B, or C. Their D to Z opponents, who were in fact a Hampshire team with given men, selected only players whose names did not begin A, B, or C. Haygarth in S&B calls it "Hambledon Club with Lumpyversus Kent". The venue, in Surrey, was neutral. Haygarth says he saw the alphabetical title in other sources.
The two "A to K" versus "L to Z" matches in 1831 and 1833 were among the few genuine alphabetical matches. They were both played at Lord's by teams of MCC members supplemented by a few leading professionals including Jem Broadbridge, William Lillywhite, Fuller Pilch, and Ned Wenman. The 1833 match was 12-a-side.
According to CricketArchive (CA), teams called "A to M" and "N to Z" played each other five times in three seasons from 1787. The main secondary source for the five matches is Scores & Biographies (S&B) which calls the two teams "Earl of Winchilsea's Side" and "Sir Horace Mann's Side". There is nothing in S&B to suggest that the teams were organised alphabetically. Furthermore, the so-called "A to M" teams included Tom Taylor, and the "N to Z" included James Aylward and William Fennex. CA claims that these were given men, and also that the two patrons evidently alternated between the teams, which would put Winchilsea into "A to M" and Mann into "N to Z". The S&B version is supported by the ACS.
This refers to two matches organised by the Duke of Dorset and the Earl of Tankerville in May 1775, the first one played at the Artillery Ground and the return at Moulsey Hurst two days later. Details of the teams are unknown and so it cannot be said which letters of the alphabet applied to each team. All that is known is that the patrons made two "Grand Alphabetical Matches".
The Arundel club was formally constituted in 1704 but, two years earlier, an Arundel team took part in a match against the 1st Duke of Richmond's XI. The venue for that match is unknown but Arundel's ground at Bury Hill was in use for other important matches through much of the 18th century. The Arundel club remains active at league level in Sussex.
First recorded in two matches against a combined Huntingdonshire & Northamptonshire team. The county's first patron and captain was John Russell, 4th Duke of Bedford.
The first reference to a team from Chatham, Kent, is a match against West of Kent in 1705, one of the earliest known important matches. There is a specific reference to a "Chatham Club" re a single wicket match in 1754.[31] In the last quarter of the 18th century, Chatham was mainly associated with George Louch and is believed to have used a ground owned by him for its home matches, though there are references in 1785 and 1787 to Chatham Lines as a venue.[32] There are some 19th century references but the Chatham club ultimately folded and there is no real modern equivalent, not even in Kent league cricket. The town of Chatham is famous historically for the Royal Dockyard but it is not known if there was any connection between the dockyard and the cricket club.
Records have survived of five important matches between 1731 and 1789 which involved the Chelsea club and/or were played on the common. The first, played on the common for the high stake of 50 guineas, was Chelsea v Fulham on Tuesday, 13 July 1731. Fulham won. There was a return at Parsons Green on Tuesday, 10 August 1731, which Fulham won by 3 runs. On Tuesday, 26 June 1733, Fulham again hosted Chelsea at Parsons Green, this time for 30 guineas, but the result of this match is unknown. On Monday, 16 August 1736, there was an inter-county match on the common between Middlesex and Surrey. The stake was 50 guineas and Middlesex won by 9 runs.[34] The last match found in the records was on Thursday, 10 and Friday, 11 September 1789 when Chelsea played Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) in Marlborough Gardens, Chelsea. This match, which was of dubious status, was probably drawn after a postponement.[35]
Chelsea Common virtually disappeared under building work in the 19th century.[36]
In 1724, Edwin Stead's XI v Chingford ended early because the Chingford team refused to play to a finish when Stead's team had the advantage. Lord Chief Justice Pratt presided over the ensuing court case and ordered the teams, as in the London v Rochester match in 1718, to play it out so that all wagers could be fulfilled. The game was completed in 1726 but the final result is not on record. Chingford's involvement is the earliest known reference to Essex cricket but the 1724 venue is uncertain and so not definitely the first match played in the county.
D to Z played against A to C, which was in fact a Kent Eleven and it was a curiosity that they selected only players whose names began with A, B or C while their D to Z opponents, who were in fact a Hampshire team with given men, selected only players whose names did not begin A, B or C. Haygarth in S&B calls it "Hambledon Club with Lumpyversus Kent". The venue, in Surrey, was neutral. Haygarth says he saw the alphabetical title in other sources.
The earliest known match involving a team from Dartford took place in 1722, against London. The club's own website says it was formally established in 1727. The club is extant.
An occasional team formed by Arthur Gilligan which played in one match against L. H. Tennyson's XI in 1925 during Gilligan's playing career. Gilligan reformed the team in 1958 for a match against the international tourists (New Zealand in 1958) at Hastings. This became an annual fixture at Hastings until 1966 and Gilligan's team also played against Sussex.
Teams raised by the Hambledon Club are generally termed Hampshire (sometimes Hampshire & Sussex) but there were occasions when a Hambledon team was specifically parish- rather than county-orientated. The club as such was probably founded in the early 1760s, but a number of matches by a Hambledon team were played in the 1750s.
There is mention of a London club in 1722 but its foundation date is unknown and the teams which represented London in the early 18th century could have been ad hoc formations. London from the 1730s to the 1750s should be considered the equivalent of a county team as it was different to the Middlesex and Surrey teams it sometimes opposed. It is most famously associated with the Artillery Ground and was especially prominent in the heyday of single wicket cricket in the 1740s. The original London club faded in the 1760s and 1770s when it was superseded by Hambledon as the focal point of the sport; its last known important match was against its old rivals Dartford in 1778. From 1788, there was another London team, possibly unconnected with the original club, which competed against MCC and Middlesex in several matches to 1798. After that, there is a sole reference to a team called London playing a one-off match against Thames Ditton in 1800. Few details have survived of London's players but they included Ellis (accredited the club's "best bowler"); leading batsmen Little and Tall Bennett; and the noted single wicket players Thomas Jure and John Capon.
Teams called London & Surrey were formed occasionally in the 18th century, playing as a combined team, mostly against Kent, which was then deemed to be the strongest county. The combined team played one match versusAddington & Lingfield in 1746.
There was a Maidstone team, as such, in 1646.[43] The club was first mentioned 1743 in connection with John Cutbush, but its earliest known match was in 1774.
N.B. This needs its own article. These teams tended to appear in festival matches at the end of an English season before travelling abroad. They usually played against ad hoc XIs or the Rest of England. The team name usually included the nationality of their pending opponents (e.g., Marylebone Cricket Club Australian Touring Team).
Mitcham claim to have been founded in 1685, which would make it the oldest cricket club in existence. However, the earliest definite record of the team is dated 26 June 1707. It played in thirteen matches between then and 1825 which may be considered important.
First recorded as part of the combined Northamptonshire & Huntingdonshire team in two matches against Bedfordshire and then, shortly afterwards, singly against Buckinghamshire. The first Northants patron and county captain was George Montagu-Dunk, 2nd Earl of Halifax.
Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire combined to play Hampshire at Lord's in July 1803. Despite having Beauclerk as a given man, they lost by an innings and 20 runs.
Non-international England teams were often referred to simply as "England", or as "All England", but the term typically means "The Rest of England" (sometimes abbreviated to "The Rest") vis-à-vis their opponents, who might be MCC or a county club.
Charles Lennox, 2nd Duke of Richmond, was a significant cricket patron, especially in his native Sussex. He ran his own team for many years, and was later involved with Slindon.
In the 18th century, Rutland was associated with Leicestershire. A county team was first formed in 1814 for a match against Nottingham. Rutland teams played sporadically until 1964, their opponents including the AEE, MCC, Leicestershire, some Minor Counties, and the Pakistan Eaglets.
Formed by Alfred Shaw for three tours of Australia, the team also played some matches in England. The three tours were in 1881/82, 1884/85, and 1886/87.
Although sometimes correctly named "West Kent", some of the teams should more properly be called the Duke of Dorset's XI or S. Amherst's XI. Apart from early games against Chatham and Surrey, seven of the matches were between 1780 and 1790 against Sir Horatio Mann's XI, which was the East Kent equivalent.
Yorkshire was first used as a team name when Sheffield Cricket Club organised a match against Norfolk at Hyde Park from 2 to 5 September 1833. Most of Sheffield's matches were against other town clubs, notably Manchester and Nottingham, but they called themselves Yorkshire when facing county opposition. The first "Roses Match" against Lancashire took place on 23–25 July 1849, Yorkshire winning by 5 wickets.[citation needed]Yorkshire County Cricket Club was formed on 8 January 1863 at a meeting of the Match Fund Committee which had been established two years earlier by the Sheffield club for the promotion of inter-county matches.[98]
An ad hoc team which was formed to play one match only against England at Darnall on 8 to 10 September 1828, England winning by 242 runs. The match arose from a challenge made by William Woolhouse on behalf of the northern counties to the rest of England. It backfired as the combined team, which featured Tom Marsden, could manage only 92 runs in the entire match against the roundarm bowling of Jem Broadbridge and William Lillywhite, while Fuller Pilch scored 49 and 56 for a personal match total of 105.
^Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (19 April 1900). "At the Sign of the Wicket". Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. XIX (534): 67–69. London: Merritt & Hatcher Ltd. – via ACS.
^Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (22 February 1900). "At the Sign of the Wicket". Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. XIX (531): 22. London: Merritt & Hatcher Ltd. – via ACS.
^Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (25 January 1900). "At the Sign of the Wicket". Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. XIX (530): 4–6. London: Merritt & Hatcher Ltd. – via ACS.
^Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (22 February 1900). "At the Sign of the Wicket". Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. XIX (531): 20–22. London: Merritt & Hatcher Ltd. – via ACS.
^Ashley-Cooper, F. S. (12 April 1900). "At the Sign of the Wicket". Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game. XIX (533): 51–53. London: Merritt & Hatcher Ltd. – via ACS.
^"Marylebone Cricket Club Touring Team". CricketArchive. Retrieved 6 March 2026. Note that the list includes Marylebone Cricket Club Australian Touring Team, Marylebone Cricket Club New Zealand Touring Team, Marylebone Cricket Club South African Touring Team, and Marylebone Cricket Club West Indian Touring Team.
Light, Rob (2011). "Cricket in the eighteenth century". The Cambridge Companion to Cricket. Bateman, Anthony & Hill, Jeffrey (eds.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 26–39.