Brighton Cricket Club was based at

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

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 ...

and was briefly a top-class team, playing seven matches between 1791 and 1814 which have been given

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 ...

status. It is often seen as being representative of

as a county.First-class matches played by Brighton (Sussex)
CricketArchive. Retrieved 2018-12-20. Cricket in Sussex saw a revival during the

Regency A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

period that coincided with the rise of

as a fashionable resort. The club had been founded by 1790 when it was recorded playing in four minor matches against other town clubs. In 1791, the Prince of Wales Ground became a first-class venue when Sussex played

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

. Brighton played at the

Prince of Wales Ground The Prince of Wales Ground, also known as Prince's Ground, in Brighton, Sussex was the venue for top-class cricket matches in the closing years of the 18th century. Location The ground was on a site now occupied by Park Crescent and its surro ...

initially. As the towns of Brighton and

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 ...

developed, the land was sold a few years later and the cricket club moved to a new site in Brighton at Temple Fields, which was where

Montpelier Crescent Montpelier Crescent is a mid 19th-century Crescent (architecture), crescent of 38 houses in the Montpelier, Brighton, Montpelier suburb of Brighton, part of the English coastal city of Brighton and Hove. Built in five parts as a set-piece reside ...

is now. From July 1814, the club occupied the

Royal New Ground The Royal New Ground, also known as "Box's Ground", in Brighton, Sussex was a venue for first-class cricket matches from 1814 to 1847. Originally called "Brown's Ground" in the 18th century, it was located where Park Crescent, Brighton now st ...

(also known as

Thomas Box Thomas Box (7 February 1808 – 12 July 1876) was a famous English cricketer who is remembered as one of the most outstanding wicketkeepers of the 19th century. Player Box played in important matches from 1826 to 1856. Although he played sever ...

's Ground), another Brighton venue, which was used for 49 major matches until September 1847 and was the county ground of Sussex CCC in its early years.CricketArchive – ground profile
Retrieved on 25 July 2009. The Brighton club was often representative of Sussex as a county and it ultimately became one of the main interests in the formation of

Sussex County Cricket Club Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The ...

in 1839. Brighton and Hove Cricket Club maintained close connections to Brighton Cricket Club prior to the later becoming Sussex County Cricket Club. During the 1970s and 1980s up to the present day a number of cricket professionals having played for Brighton and Hove have gone on to play for Sussex, Middlesex, Surrey and other counties and countries most notably England, Pakistan and South Africa. The brothers Wells Colin and

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

played for Brighton and Hove Cricket Club before Alan represented England against the West Indies and Colin (Sussex), also brothers Willows

represented Sussex and

Roly Roly is a fictional dog from the BBC soap opera '' EastEnders''. Roly is an apricot coloured Standard Poodle, who appears in the first episode of the programme on 19 February 1985 and remained in the show until 19 October 1993. Storylines Roly ...

Middlesex during the 1970s and 1980s both played for Brighton and Hove. Other international players to play for Brighton and Hove Cricket Club include

Tony Greig Anthony William Greig (6 October 194629 December 2012) was a South African-born Test cricket captain turned commentator. Greig qualified to play for the England cricket team by virtue of his Scottish parentage. He was a tall () all-rounder wh ...

(England),

Kepler Wessels Kepler Christoffel Wessels (born 14 September 1957) is a South African-Australian cricket commentator and former cricketer who captained South Africa after playing 24 Tests for Australia. Since retiring he has been a lawn bowls competitor. He ...

(Australia and South Africa) and

Andy Dindar Andrew Dindar (born 26 June 1942) is a former South African born English first-class cricketer. Dindar was a right-handed batsman who bowled right-arm medium pace and who occasionally fielded as a wicketkeeper. He was born at Johannesburg ...

(Middlesex).

References

Further reading