There are eighteen professional county clubs, seventeen of them in England and one in Wales. All eighteen counties are named after, and were originally representative of, historic counties. These clubs are heavily dependent on subsidies from the England and Wales Cricket Board, which makes its money from television and endorsement contracts and attendances at international matches. The English cricket season traditionally starts at the beginning of April and runs through to the second half of September although in recent years counties have played pre season friendly matches at the very end of March. Each summer the county clubs compete in the first classCounty Championship, which consists of two leagues of nine teams and in which matches are played over four days. The same teams also play one day cricket in the Royal London One-Day Cup, and Twenty20 cricket in the Vitality T20 Blast. The Minor Counties Cricket Championship is a season-long competition in England for county clubs that do not have first-class status. There are nineteen teams representing historic English counties along with a Welsh minor counties team. Below the county game, there are a raft of club competitions organised on a regional basis. ECB Premier Leagues being the highest level. There are also non-ECB-affiliated leagues such as the Bradford Cricket League, the Lancashire League and the Central Lancashire League.
First-class counties
The eighteen first-class counties are the top level 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.
Derbies
The following games are considered derbies:-
Roses Match – Yorkshire v Lancashire
Battle of London – Middlesex v Surrey
South Coast Special – Hampshire v Sussex
West Midlands Derby – Warwickshire v Worcestershire
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. When the Marylebone Cricket Club plays against one of the first-class counties, the game is granted first-class status.
MCC Universities
The six MCC-sponsored University teams, are also afforded first-class status for some of their matches against a first-class county. They are:
Cambridge MCCU
Oxford MCCU
Durham MCCU
Loughborough MCCU
Cardiff MCCU
Leeds/Bradford MCCU
Most of the first-class counties play three-day games against university cricket teams in the early part of the English cricket season. This is partly because the start of the cricket season coincides with the end of the university academic year, and partly because the games act as pre-season warm-ups for the county clubs.
The Hundred
Originally scheduled to start in the 2020 season but postponed until 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic the Hundred is a new 100 ball cricket competition which will consist of eight city-based franchise teams, each of which will field both a men's and women's team which will be played in a league format.
The cricket grounds of England and Wales are smaller than the largest in some other countries, especially India and Australia, but the best of them have been modernised to a high standard, and two new international grounds have been built in recent years. The largest English cricket ground, Lord's in London, is internationally regarded as the "home of cricket". The following other stadiums also have Test match status The Oval, Old Trafford, Trent Bridge, Headingley, Edgbaston and Riverside. On 24 November 2006 the Rose Bowl, Southampton was awarded provisional test venue status by the England and Wales Cricket Board, with the prospect of the ground hosting its first Test match in 2010.
Governing body
The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council. They are full members of the International Cricket Council.
National team
England is a founding Test cricket, One Day International and Twenty20 nation. England played in the first ever Test match in 1877 and also the first ever One-day International in 1971. Each summer two foreign national teams visit England to play seven Test matches and numerous One Day Internationals. In the British winter the England team tours abroad. The highest profile rival of the England cricket team is the Australian team, with which it competes for The Ashes, one of the most famous trophies in British sport.
Popularity
In 2005 the ECB concluded a commercial arrangement with BSkyB which gave Sky the exclusive television rights for live Test cricket in England for four years. This deal, which took live Test cricket for home England matches away from terrestrial televisionfor the first time generated substantial future revenues for English cricket, but was criticised by many England cricket supporters and others. The Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year is an annual award voted by the Cricket Writers' Club for the best young cricket player in England and Wales, and has been awarded since 1950. Cricket is also one of the most popular participation sports in England after Football, Rugby and Tennis with most villages running a side every Sunday through the season, and towns putting out 2, 3, 4 and occasionally 5 sides for Saturday league matches, and 1 or 2 sides on a Sunday. Around 65% population of England follow Cricket. The game is also popular in cities, with clubs like the attracting members.
