Staffordshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty

national National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, ce ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

clubs within the domestic

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 ...

structure of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

. It represents the historic county of

Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation Staffs.) is a landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

. The team is currently a member of the

National Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

Eastern Division and plays in the

NCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties of English and Welsh cricket, National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Ind ...

. Staffordshire played

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

matches occasionally from 1971 until 2005 but is not classified as a List A team ''per se''.

History

The earliest known reference to cricket being played in Staffordshire is as late as 1817. The present Staffordshire county club was founded on 24 November 1871 and took part in the first National Counties Cricket Championship in 1895. It then lapsed for four years as it could not arrange sufficient fixtures,National Counties Cricket Championship 1895 - Tony Webb - ACS but has been a member continuously since 1900. Staffordshire has won the National Counties Championship 11 times, more than any other county. It won the title outright in 1906, 1908, 1911, 1920, 1921, 1927, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998 and 2014. The 1914 title was disputed as the war prevented several matches from being played, and is regarded by the NCCA as void. Staffordshire's years of great success before and after the First World War were in part due to the great bowler,

Sydney Barnes Sydney Francis Barnes (19 April 1873 – 26 December 1967) was an English professional cricketer who is regarded as one of the greatest bowlers of all time. He was right-handed and bowled at a pace that varied from medium to fast-medium with ...

, who played for the county from 1904 to 1914 and from 1924 to 1934 (when he was 61). He took 1,441 wickets at an average of 8.15 runs each. However, Barnes did not play for the county in 1920 or 1921, two of Staffordshire's title-winning seasons. The leading player then was

Aaron Lockett Aaron Lockett (1 December 1892 – 10 February 1965) was an English footballer and cricketer. He played football in the Football League for Port Vale, and also appeared for Stoke and Stafford Rangers. He played cricket for Staffordshire betwe ...

. The most recent title in 2014 was won after a play-off final against the Western Division league leaders,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

, at the South Wilts Sports Club ground in Salisbury. Staffordshire has won the

twice (1991 and 1993) since its inception in 1983.

Honours

* National Counties Championship (11): 1906, 1908, 1911, 1920, 1921, 1927, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1998 & 2014 * NCCA Knockout Trophy (2): 1991 & 1993 (runners-up in 1992, 2009 & 2016)

County grounds

:''See

List of Staffordshire County Cricket Club grounds Staffordshire County Cricket Club was established on 24 November 1871. It has since played Minor counties of English and Welsh cricket, minor counties cricket from 1895 and played List A cricket from 1971 to 2005, using a different number of Home ...

'' The club has always played its matches at club grounds around the county. It began playing at the old County Ground on Victoria Road in Stoke-on-Trent. That closed before the Second World War. In recent years, some of the grounds have been: * Four Trees, Uttoxeter Road, Checkley (starting in 2017, home of Checkley CC) * Lichfield Road, Stone (home of Stone SPCC) * Sandwell Park, Birmingham Road, West Bromwich (home of West Bromwich Dartmouth CC) * Trentham Road, Longton, Stoke-on-Trent (home of Longton CC) * Tunstall Road, Knypersley, Stoke-on-Trent (home of Knypersley Victoria SC)

Notable players

:''See

List of Staffordshire County Cricket Club List A players Staffordshire County Cricket Club was formed in 1871. The county first competed in the Minor Counties Championship in 1895. They then appeared again in 1899 and have been competing continuously ever since. They have appeared in forty List A ...

and :Staffordshire cricketers'' The following cricketers with Staffordshire associations (club and/or county) made an impact on the first-class game:

References

External links