County cricket

In cricket, the umbrella term county cricket is applied to all matches between teams that are representative of an English or Welsh county. The earliest inter-county matches were played in the first half of the 18th century.

Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at different levels: the County Championship, a first-class competition which involves 18 clubs, of which 17 are English and one is from Wales; and the National Counties Championship (formerly the Minor Counties Championship), with 19 English clubs and one club representing several Welsh counties.

County clubs have also played limited-overs competitions since the 1960s. The first edition of the Gillette Cup in 1963 was the world's first List A cricket tournament. The Sunday League existed from 1969 to 2009, mostly as a 40-overs-per-side league. The 2003 Twenty20 Cup was the world's first Twenty20 tournament. Currently, the main limited-overs county competitions are the One-Day Cup, Women's One-Day Cup, T20 Blast, and Women's T20 Blast.