Cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

may not have reached the

English counties The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

and

Rutland Rutland () is a ceremonial county and unitary authority in the East Midlands, England. The county is bounded to the west and north by Leicestershire, to the northeast by Lincolnshire and the southeast by Northamptonshire. Its greatest len ...

until the 18th century. A notice in the ''Leicester Journal'' dated 17 August 1776 is the earliest known mention of cricket in the area. A few years later, a Leicestershire & Rutland Cricket Club was taking part in important matches. Note that in some contemporary reports the club is called simply Leicester but the personnel involved are the same whichever title is used.

Matches

The ''Leicester Journal'' on 4 August 1781 reported Leicester v Melton Mowbray at Barrowcliffe Meadow near

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

. Melton Mowbray won by 16 runs. Later the same season, the first reports have been found of a match between Leicester and

Nottingham Cricket Club Nottingham Cricket Club was an English cricket club which played in Nottingham during the 18th and 19th centuries. Matches have been recorded between 1771 to 1848 and the team played in 15 first-class matches between 1826 and 1848. The earliest ...

. These two old clubs forged quite a fierce rivalry. They met at

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England, the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and Loughborough University. At the 2011 census the town's built-up area had a population of 59,932 , the second larg ...

on 17 & 18 September 1781 and the game was incomplete due to a dispute.see Buckley for the details as reported in the ''Leicester Journal'' Nottingham scored 50 & 73; Leicester had scored 73 & 9-2 when the game ended prematurely because of a dispute about wide deliveries. The repercussions dragged on and the dispute remained unresolved for some years. In 1787, Leicester played matches against Coventry and Melton Mowbray. The Coventry game is extensively recorded in Buckley. Leicester lost by an innings to Melton Mowbray but defeated Coventry by 45 runs. In September 1788, they defeated Coventry by 28 runs in another match which Buckley records. In 1789, Leicester played Nottingham again in two matches at Loughborough. They won one each and full scorecards have survived. It is evident that by this time these teams were representative of their counties and, in 1791, they were both deemed good enough to play against MCC, but they were both well beaten. This was hardly surprising as northern cricket was still developing while the southern teams had considerable match experience. Leicester's game against MCC was played at Burley-on-the-Hill in Rutland, which was the Earl of Winchilsea's country retreat, used as his base for foxhunting parties. It is not far from the Great North Road so communication with London was relatively easy at the time. In 1792, Burley-on-the-Hill staged "Leicestershire & Rutland v Nottingham", the home side winning by 4 wickets and providing a historical example of the fact that Leicestershire cricket encompasses Rutland. In a further game at Leicester in 1800, Nottingham won by an innings and the old Leicestershire & Rutland club seemed to fade away after that, apart from a couple of mentions in the early 19th century.

19th century

Little more is heard of Leicestershire cricket until the formation of the present club on 25 March 1879.

Leicestershire County Cricket Club Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the count ...

played its inaugural

first-class match First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

on 14, 15 & 16 May 1894 versus

Essex County Cricket Club Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 when ...

Leyton Leyton () is a town in east London, England, within the London Borough of Waltham Forest. It borders Walthamstow to the north, Leytonstone to the east, and Stratford to the south, with Clapton, Hackney Wick and Homerton, across the River L ...

. It was the initial first-class match played by either club. In 1895, Leicestershire County Cricket Club joined the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

. For the history of Leicestershire cricket since the foundation of the county club, see'' :

References

Bibliography

Derek Birley Sir Derek Birley (31 May 1926 – 14 May 2002) was a distinguished English educationalist and a prize-winning writer on the social history of sport, particularly cricket. Life and career Born in a mining community in West Yorkshire, Birley attend ...

, ''A Social History of English Cricket'', Aurum, 1999 *

Rowland Bowen Major Rowland Francis Bowen (27 February 1916 – 4 September 1978) was a British Army officer and a cricket researcher, historian and writer. Educated at Westminster School, Bowen received an emergency commission in April 1942 into the In ...

, ''Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development'', Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970 * G. B. Buckley, ''Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket'', Cotterell, 1935 *

Arthur Haygarth Arthur Haygarth (4 August 1825 – 1 May 1903) was a noted amateur cricketer who became one of cricket's most significant historians. He played first-class cricket for the Marylebone Cricket Club and Sussex between 1844 and 1861, as well as num ...

, ''Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744-1826)'', Lillywhite, 1862 {{DEFAULTSORT:Leicestershire and Rutland Cricket Club History of Leicestershire History of Rutland English cricket teams in the 18th century Former senior cricket clubs Cricket in Leicestershire Cricket in Rutland