Hertfordshire County Cricket Club


Hertfordshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Hertfordshire.
The team is currently a member of the Minor Counties Championship Eastern Division and plays in the MCCA Knockout Trophy. Hertfordshire played List A matches occasionally from 1964 until 2004 but is not classified as a List A team per se.
The club is based at Balls Park, Hertford and also plays matches around the county at Cricket Field Lane in Bishop's Stortford, Long Marston, Brunton Memorial Ground in Radlett and North Mymms.

Honours

Cricket must have reached Hertfordshire by the end of the 17th century. The earliest reference to cricket in the county is dated 1732 and is also the earliest reference to Essex as a county team. On Thursday 6 July 1732, a team called Essex & Hertfordshire played London Cricket Club at Epping Forest "for £50 a side". The result is unknown.
Hertfordshire was never considered a first-class county but its teams did appear frequently throughout the 18th century and played against some teams that were normally considered first-class, so there must have been times when the status of a Hertfordshire match was "borderline".
On 22 June 1814, Hertfordshire played against the Marylebone Cricket Club in the first match to be staged on the current Lord's ground. This fixture was repeated in 2014 to mark the bicentennial of the ground.

Origin of club

There were a number of county organisations in the 18th century and one in 1838. The present Hertfordshire CCC was founded on 8 March 1876. It joined the Minor Counties Championship for the very first season, 1895, and is the only one of the seven competing sides from that season to have maintained membership continuously ever since.

Club history

Hertfordshire has won the Minor Counties Championship four times, in 1936, 1975, 1983 and 1990.
Hertfordshire has won the MCCA Knockout Trophy once since its inception in 1983. It won in 1984.

Notable players

The following Hertfordshire cricketers also made an impact on the first-class game: