Bedfordshire County Cricket Club is one of 20

Minor County 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 ...

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 and Wales. It represents the historic county of

Bedfordshire Bedfordshire (; abbreviated Beds) is a ceremonial county in the East of England. The county has been administered by three unitary authorities, Borough of Bedford, Central Bedfordshire and Borough of Luton, since Bedfordshire County Council wa ...

. The team is currently a member of the

Minor 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

MCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

. Bedfordshire 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 1967 until 2005 but is not classified as a List A team.

History

Cricket had probably reached Bedfordshire by the end of the 17th century. The earliest reference to cricket in the county is a match in August 1741 at

Woburn Park Woburn Abbey (), occupying the east of the village of Woburn, Bedfordshire, England, is a country house, the family seat of the Duke of Bedford. Although it is still a family home to the current duke, it is open on specified days to visitors, ...

between a Bedfordshire XI and a combined Northants and Huntingdonshire XI. Woburn Cricket Club, under the leadership of the

Duke of Bedford Duke of Bedford (named after Bedford, England) is a title that has been created six times (for five distinct people) in the Peerage of England. The first and second creations came in 1414 and 1433 respectively, in favour of Henry IV's third so ...

, became prominent in the 1740s and took part in a number of "great matches" against opponents such as

London Cricket Club The original London Cricket Club was formed in 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades, holding important match status. It is closely associated with the Artillery Ground, where it played most of it ...

. A county organisation has been traced back to May 1847 and a Bedfordshire team competed in the first Minor Counties Championship in 1895, with six other teams: it finished fourth. The county then missed the next four seasons before the current Bedfordshire County Cricket Club was founded on 3 November 1899,Bowen (1970) ''Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development'', p.274. Eyre & Spottiswoode. at which point it rejoined the competition in 1900. It has not missed any seasons since.

Honours

The county has won the

twice, in 1970 and in 1972, and shared the title in 2004 after drawing the title playoff match against

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

. The

was won in 1999. * Minor Counties Championship (2) - 1970, 1972; shared (1) - 2004 * MCCA Knockout Trophy (1) - 1999

Notable players

:''See

List of Bedfordshire County Cricket Club List A players This is a list of cricketers who have played for Bedfordshire County Cricket Club in List A matches. Bedfordshire, one of the Minor Counties, played 27 List A cricket matches – a one-day, limited overs cricket, limited overs form of cricket – ...

and :Bedfordshire cricketers'' The following Bedfordshire cricketers also made an impact on the first-class game:

Rex Alston Rex may refer to: * Rex (title) (Latin: king, ruler, monarch), a royal title ** King of Rome (Latin: Rex Romae), chief magistrate of the Roman Kingdom People * Rex (given name), for people with the given name * Rex (surname), for people with ...

, who captained the side in 1932, subsequently became famous as a

BBC radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering th ...

commentator on cricket and other sports.

Grounds

The club have no fixed home, but most of their matches are played in

Wardown Park Wardown Park is situated on the River Lea in Luton. The park has various sporting facilities, is home to the Wardown Park Museum and contains formal gardens. The park is located between ''Old Bedford Road'' and the A6, ''New Bedford Road'' and ...

Luton Luton () is a town and unitary authority with borough status, in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 census, the Luton built-up area subdivision had a population of 211,228 and its built-up area, including the adjacent towns of Dunstable an ...

. Other recently used grounds include: * Ampthill Park,

Ampthill Ampthill () is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, between Bedford and Luton, with a population estimate of 8,100 (Mid year estimate 2017 from the ONS). It is administered bAmpthill Town Council The ward of Ampthill which also i ...

* The Vale,

Flitwick Flitwick () is a town and civil parish in Bedfordshire, England. It is mentioned in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "a hamlet on the River Flitt". The spelling ''Flytwyk'' appears in 1381. The nearby River Flit runs through Flitwick Moor, a natur ...

Goldington Bury Goldington Bury is a cricket ground in the Goldington area of Bedford, in England. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1941, when Bedford Town played London Counties. The ground hosted its first Minor Counties Championship match whe ...

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area (including Biddenham and Kempston) was 106,940, making it the second-largest settlement in Bedfordshire, behind Luton, whilst ...

Lancot Park Lancot Park is a cricket ground in Dunstable, Bedfordshire. Situated at the foot of Dunstable Downs, on the outskirts of the village of Totternhoe, Lancot Park is the home of Dunstable Town Cricket Club. The ground and clubhouse was constructe ...

Dunstable Dunstable ( ) is a market town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in Bedfordshire, England, east of the Chiltern Hills, north of London. There are several steep chalk escarpments, most noticeable when approaching Dunstable from the ...

* Southill Park Cricket Club, Southill *

Bedford Modern School Bedford Modern School (often called BMS) is a Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference independent school in Bedford, England. The school has its origins in Bedford Charity, The Harpur Trust, born from the financial endowment, endowments le ...

Bedford School :''Bedford School is not to be confused with Bedford Girls' School, Bedford High School, Bedford Modern School, Old Bedford School in Bedford, Texas or Bedford Academy in Bedford, Nova Scotia.'' Bedford School is a public school (English indep ...

References

External links

Bedfordshire County Cricket Club
{{minor counties National Counties cricket History of Bedfordshire Cricket clubs established in 1899 Cricket in Bedfordshire