Manchester Cricket Club was founded in 1816 and was a direct forerunner of
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in English cricket. The club has held first-class status since it was founded in 1864. Lancashire's home is Old Trafford Cricket Ground, although the team also play ...
which was founded in 1864. Manchester matches are classified with
first-class cricket
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 ...
between 1844 and 1858, after which it was superseded by the county club.
History
Cricket may not have reached
Lancashire
Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly.
The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...
until the 18th century. The earliest known reference to cricket being played in the county is in 1781. In 1816, Manchester Cricket Club was founded and soon became the most important side within the county in the same way that
Sheffield Cricket Club
The Sheffield Cricket Club was founded in the 18th century and soon began to play a key role in the development of cricket in northern England. It was the direct forerunner of Yorkshire County Cricket Club and some of the teams fielded by Sheffi ...
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 ...
were in
Yorkshire
Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...
and
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...
.
Manchester played mostly against opponents from the north of England and 13 of its matches between 1844 and 1858 have first-class status. Four other first-class matches were played between 1849 and 1851 between Lancashire XIs and Yorkshire XIs.
In their early years, the club played their cricket at the Crescent in Salford and afterwards at Moss Lane (here a match against an All England was played in the 1840s; it is said that an XI who played a match at Lord's in 1842 were defeated because they bowled underarm)
[Bruton, F. A. (1924) ''A Short History of Manchester and Salford''. Manchester: Sherratt & Hughes; p. 263 (the source of information is given as Mr. Hornby, ]A. N. Hornby
Albert Neilson Hornby, nicknamed Monkey Hornby (10 February 1847 – 17 December 1925) was one of the best-known sportsmen in England during the nineteenth century excelling in both rugby and cricket. He was the first of only two men to captain ...
) and subsequently on land adjacent to the
Manchester Botanical Garden and leased from the
Trafford family. In 1856,
Sir Humphrey de Trafford
Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 2nd Baronet (1 May 1808 – 4 May 1886) was a prominent English Catholic. Born at Croston Hall near Chorley, Lancashire on 1 May 1808, he was the fourth child and the eldest son of Sir Thomas de Trafford.
Early lif ...
identified this land as being an ideal location for the planned
Manchester Art and Treasures Exhibition and offered Manchester Cricket Club £500 in compensation for the remainder of their lease. The club, however, insisted on a figure of £1,000 and agreed to vacate the site ahead of the 1857 season, moving to the ground which subsequently became
Old Trafford Cricket Ground
Old Trafford is a cricket ground in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It opened in 1857 as the home of Manchester Cricket Club and has been the home of Lancashire County Cricket Club since 1864. From 2013 onwards it has been known as ...
, the home of Lancashire cricket.
Lancashire County Cricket Club
Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in English cricket. The club has held first-class status since it was founded in 1864. Lancashire's home is Old Trafford Cricket Ground, although the team also play ...
was formally constituted on 12 January 1864 at a meeting of thirteen Lancashire cricket clubs in Manchester. In 1865, the new 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 ...
and played its initial
important match against
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, historic county in South East England, southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the Ceremonial counties of ...
at Old Trafford on 20, 21 and 22 July. The Manchester club was superseded by the county club and ceased to have
important match status in its own right.
References
Bibliography
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Manchester Cricket Club
1816 establishments in England
Cricket in Greater Manchester
Cricket in Lancashire
English club cricket teams
English cricket in the 19th century
Former senior cricket clubs
History of Lancashire
Sport in Manchester
Sports clubs established in the 1810s