Unicorns were a

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 st ...

team in England that was formed in 2010 specifically to play in the

Clydesdale Bank 40 The ECB40, last known as the Yorkshire Bank 40 (YB40) for sponsorship reasons, was a forty-over limited overs cricket competition for the English first-class counties. It began in the 2010 English cricket season as a replacement for the Pro40 ...

limited overs Limited overs cricket, also known as one-day cricket or white ball cricket, is a version of the sport of cricket in which a match is generally completed in one day. There are a number of formats, including List A cricket (8-hour games), Twenty ...

competition. They played in that competition until 2013 and from 2014 to 2018 the Unicorns team competed in the Second XI one-day and Twenty20 competitions. The 2014 season also included a 50-over match against Sri Lanka A.
Unicorns / Fixtures
' ESPN Cricinfo, Retrieved on 15 March 2014 Members of the squad were all players without current full-time contracts with one of the regular first-class counties. In only their sixth competitive game, Unicorns entered the record books for scoring the highest total in the second innings of a 40-over game, beating

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the Englis ...

by successfully chasing 325.
Durston ton sets up Unicorns' record chase
' Cricinfo, 23 May 2010, Retrieved on 25 May 2010 The team was wound up at the end of the 2018 season for financial and logistical reasons.

Formation

Provisionally called the ECB Recreation XI,Bolton, Paul

' Telegraph, 8 April 2010, Retrieved on 2 May 2010 the squad was selected by coach Philip Oliver,

Mark Alleyne Mark Wayne Alleyne (born 23 May 1968) is a former English cricket coach and first-class cricketer who made ten One Day International appearances for England between 1998/99 and 2000/01. Classed as an all-rounder, he mostly batted in the middl ...

and

Min Patel Minal Mahesh Patel (born 7 July 1970) is a retired Indian-born English cricketer who made two appearances in Test cricket for the England cricket team. He was a right-handed batsman and a slow left arm bowler, who primarily played for Kent Cou ...

Parsons to captain Unicorns
' AOL Sport, 14 April 2010, Retrieved on 2 May 2010 from a pool of 200 players recommended to the

England and Wales Cricket Board The England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) is the national governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was formed on 1 January 1997 as a single governing body to combine the roles formerly fulfilled by the Test and County Cricket Board, ...

in December 2009; the pool was reduced to 40 and 21 following training sessions over the winter.Cricinfo staff
Unicorns name squad for Clydesdale Bank 40

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

, 13 April 2010, Retrieved on 2 May 2010 15 members of the squad are former county cricket professionals. Team Manager Gordon Child said, "The Unicorns squad is a balance of youth and experience...For the younger players aspiring to play first-class cricket this is an opportunity to learn from their more experienced team mates and really test themselves and understand the attributes needed to succeed at this level." The squad was captained by experienced professional Keith Parsons, the former

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lor ...

all-rounder An all-rounder is a cricketer who regularly performs well at both batting and bowling. Although all bowlers must bat and quite a handful of batsmen do bowl occasionally, most players are skilled in only one of the two disciplines and are consi ...

, who was playing

Minor Counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes und ...

for

Cornwall Cornwall (; kw, Kernow ) is a Historic counties of England, historic county and Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is recognised as one of the Celtic nations, and is the homeland of the Cornish people ...

.
Unicorns in shop window
' BBC Sport, 27 April 2010, Retrieved on 2 May 2010

2010 Clydesdale Bank 40

Unicorns played in Group A of the

2010 Clydesdale Bank 40 The 2010 Clydesdale Bank 40 tournament was the inaugural ECB 40 limited overs cricket competition for the English and Welsh first-class counties. In addition to the 18 counties, Scotland and the Netherlands took part, as well as the Unicorns, a ...

, along with

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Mot ...

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 Lancas ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

and

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a county in the West Midlands of England. The area that is now Worcestershire was absorbed into the unified Kingdom of England in 927, at which time it was constituted as a county (see H ...

; The competition was created for the 18 first-class counties, plus

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the s ...

and a Recreational XI based on players from the

Minor Counties The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

. Ireland declined to compete, thus leaving the competition one team short for the proposed three groups of seven format; and

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

took their place. Unicorns were created to play representing the Minor Counties, thus giving a new opportunity for younger players to gain experience and to learn from experienced professionals. Unicorns had no fixed stadium and played their home games at six different outgrounds (stadiums with occasional use by first-class counties). Their first competitive game was due to be against Surrey on 2 May 2010, but was abandoned without any play, due to rain. Both teams received one point. After a promising start in reply to

's 255/8 at

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th ...

, Unicorns collapsed from 207/4 to 211 all out, to lose their first full competitive game by 44 runs. Former

England international The England national football team has represented England in international football since the first international match in 1872. It is controlled by The Football Association (FA), the governing body for football in England, which is affilia ...

bowler

James Kirtley Robert James Kirtley (born 10 January 1975) is a former English Test cricketer. He is a right arm fast medium bowler and a right hand batsman. After prep school at St. Andrews School, Eastbourne, he was educated at Clifton College. Kirtley is p ...

led the collapse, with four wickets in eight balls. Unicorns then lost by seven wickets to

Taunton Taunton () is the county town of Somerset, England, with a 2011 population of 69,570. Its thousand-year history includes a 10th-century monastic foundation, Taunton Castle, which later became a priory. The Normans built a castle owned by the ...

. In their fourth group game, on 16 May, Unicorns recorded their first win. Batting first against

at Dean Park,

Bournemouth Bournemouth () is a coastal resort town in the Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole council area of Dorset, England. At the 2011 census, the town had a population of 183,491, making it the largest town in Dorset. It is situated on the English ...

, Unicorns scored 231/8, including a

stand Stand or The Stand may refer to: * To assume the upright position of standing * Forest stand, a group of trees * Area of seating in a stadium, such as bleachers * Stand (cricket), a relationship between two players * Stand (drill pipe), 2 or 3 ...

of 126 between Parsons and Knappett. Glamorgan were then restricted to 173. Unicorns then went on to hit the record books when they stunned Sussex, in complete contrast to their batting collapse against them earlier in the competition. Wes Durston smashed 117 from 68 balls as they chased down a target of 325 to set the highest score (327/4) for a team batting second in the history of 40-over cricket. The third-wicket partnership between Durston and Josh Knappett, both making their highest List A scores, made 165 in just 18 overs. On resumption of the competition following the two-month break for

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

matches, Unicorns suffered a nine-wicket defeat to

, before chasing another large total (277 runs), this time set by

to win with two balls to spare; Michael O'Shea hit 90 from 62 balls.

Demise

The Unicorns team was scrapped after the 2018 season. The Minor Counties Cricket Association had reintroduced a T20 competition in 2018 and decided that the money spent on the Unicorns team would be better used to fund that T20 competition. There were also concerns about selection and whether the team was properly representative of leisure cricket.

Notes

References

* Lyles, Christopher, "Unicorns for real", ''The Wisden Cricketer'' May 2010, 95 {{DEFAULTSORT:Unicorns (Cricket Team) Cricket clubs established in 2010 Cricket teams in England Cricket clubs disestablished in 2018 Former senior cricket clubs

Formation

2010 Clydesdale Bank 40

Demise

See also

Notes

References