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{{Short description|Cricket matches between the historic counties of England and Wales}}
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[[File:Cricket counties.png|thumb|250px|County cricket clubs in England and Wales: {{legend|#FF3C3C|First-class counties}}{{legend|#003366|[[National Counties of English and Welsh cricket|National Counties]] (formerly known as Minor Counties)}}{{legend|#808080|Other counties}}]]
Inter-'''county cricket''' matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the [[historic counties of England]] and [[historic counties of Wales|Wales]].

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

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

==History==
County cricket started in the 18th century; the earliest known inter-county match was played in 1709, though an official County Championship was not instituted until 1890.

===Development of county cricket===
Inter-county cricket was popular throughout the 18th century, although the best teams, such as [[Kent county cricket teams|Kent]] in the 1740s and [[Hampshire county cricket teams|Hampshire]] in the days of the famous [[Hambledon Club]], were usually acknowledged as such by being matched against [[All-England Eleven|All-England]]. The most successful county teams were Hampshire, Kent, [[Middlesex county cricket teams|Middlesex]], [[Surrey county cricket teams|Surrey]] and [[Sussex county cricket teams|Sussex]]. There was, however, often a crossover between town and county, with some strong local clubs tending at times to represent a whole county. Examples are [[London Cricket Club|London]], which often played against county teams and was in some respects almost a county club in itself; [[Slindon Cricket Club|Slindon]], which was for a few years in the 1740s effectively representative of Sussex as a county; [[Dartford Cricket Club|Dartford]], sometimes representative of Kent; and the [[Hambledon Club]], certainly representative of Hampshire and also perhaps of Sussex. One of the best county teams in the late 18th century was [[Berkshire county cricket teams|Berkshire]], which no longer has first-class status.

===Qualification rules===
An important year was 1873, when player qualification rules came into force, requiring players to choose at the start of each season whether they would play for the county of their birth or their county of residence. Before this, it was quite common for a player to play for both counties during the course of a single season. At [[The Oval]] on 9 June 1873, the following rules were decided on:

{{quote|
* That no cricketer, whether amateur or professional, shall play for more than one county during the same season.
* Every cricketer born in one county and residing in another shall be free to choose at the commencement of each season for which of those counties he will play, and shall, during that season, play for the one county only.
* A cricketer shall be qualified to play for the county in which he is residing and has resided for the previous two years: or a cricketer may elect to play for the county in which his family home is, so long as it remains open to him as an occasional residence.
* That should any question arise as to the residential qualification, the same shall be left to the decision of the Marylebone Cricket Club.<ref>Christopher Martin-Jenkins, ''The Wisden Book of County Cricket'', Queen Anne Press, 1981. {{ISBN|0-362-00545-1}}, p. 17.</ref>}}

The rules were gradually relaxed, but they still affected or delayed moves between counties by players, such as [[Tom Graveney]] in [[1961 English cricket season|1961]] and [[Bob Willis]] in [[1972 English cricket season|1972]].<ref name="Cricinfo-300516">{{cite news |last1=MacPherson |first1=Will |title=All Out: How a cricket transfer works |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/all-out-cricket-how-a-cricket-transfer-works-1018143 |work=ESPN Cricinfo |date=30 May 2016}}</ref> The removal in [[1968 English cricket season|1968]] of residential duration rules for overseas players led to an influx of star names: [[Garfield Sobers]], [[Clive Lloyd]], [[Barry Richards]] and [[Richard Hadlee]] all signed for English counties.<ref name="Wisden-040618">{{cite web |title=A brief history of overseas players in county cricket |url=https://www.wisden.com/cricket-features/a-brief-history-of-overseas-players-in-county-cricket |website=Wisden |date=4 June 2018}}</ref><ref name="TCM-120718">{{cite web |title=Remember when Britain was invaded? |url=https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1151204/remember-when-britain-was-invaded |website=The Cricket Monthly |date=12 July 2018}}</ref> Yorkshire kept its own rule that players must have been born locally until [[1992 English cricket season|1992]].<ref name="Cricinfo-300516"/>

===Modern county cricket===
All County Championship matches prior to 1988 were scheduled for three days, normally of a nominal six hours each plus intervals, but often with the first two days lengthened by up to an hour and the final day shortened, so that teams with fixtures elsewhere on the following day could travel at sensible hours. The exception to this was the 1919 season, when there was an experiment with two-day matches played over longer hours, up to nine o'clock in the evening in mid-summer. This experiment was not repeated. From 1988 to 1992 some matches were played over four days. From 1993 onward, all County Championship matches have been scheduled for four days.

Due to falling attendances in the Championship in the 1950s, the English and Welsh county clubs decided to play their first one-day cricket competition, the [[Friends Provident Trophy|Gillette Cup]], in [[1963 Gillette Cup|1963]]. This was accompanied by the [[Sunday League (cricket)|John Player League]] annually from [[1969 Player's County League|1969]] and the [[Benson & Hedges Cup]] from [[1972 Benson & Hedges Cup|1972]]. In the 21st century, the ECB has founded other limited-overs competitions: the [[T20 Blast|Twenty20 Cup (now T20 Blast)]], the [[ECB 40]] and the [[One-Day Cup (England)|One-Day Cup]].

===Women's county cricket===
Under the [[Women's Cricket Association]], founded in [[1926 English cricket season|1926]],<ref name="WCH-Firsts">{{cite web |title=The Women's Cricket Association (WCA) - 1926-1998: Firsts |url=https://womenscrickethistory.org/History/firsts.html |website=Women's Cricket History}}</ref> the first women's county match took place in [[1930 English cricket season|1930]], [[Durham women's cricket team|Durham]] v [[Lancashire and Cheshire Women cricket team|Lancashire & Cheshire]] at [[Castle Eden]].<ref name="CA-2015">{{cite web |title=Durham Women v Lancashire and Cheshire Women |url=https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/333/333397.html |website=Cricket Archive |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150514032017/https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Scorecards/333/333397.html |archive-date=14 May 2015 |url-status=dead}}</ref> [[Yorkshire Women cricket team|Yorkshire]]'s women's team first played in [[1935 English cricket season|1935]].<ref name="YCCC-Unlocking">{{cite web |title=Unlocking The Histories Of Cricket: The Women’s Game |url=https://yorkshireccc.com/community/yorkshire-cricket-foundation/heritage/online-exhibitions/unlocking-the-histories-of-cricket-the-womens-game/ |website=Yorkshire County Cricket Club}}</ref> The [[Women's Area Championship]] (1980–1996) involved county teams and regional ones. The [[Women's County Championship]] was a 50-over competition, played each year from [[1997 Women's County Championship|1997]] to [[2019 Women's County Championship|2019]]. The Twenty20 [[Women's Cricket Super League|Super League]] (2016–2019) included some county teams, in a divisional structure.<ref>[http://ecbwcountychampionship.play-cricket.com/ ECB Women's One-Day Championship & County T20] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150219200755/http://ecbwcountychampionship.play-cricket.com/ |date=19 February 2015 }} Retrieved 25 April 2015</ref> From [[2020 English cricket season|2020]] to [[2024 English cricket season|2024]], women's top-level domestic cricket was regionalised, as teams comprised multiple counties. County teams returned in 2025, now in professional competitions, the [[Women's One-Day Cup]] and [[Women's T20 Blast|T20 Blast]].

==Teams==

===First-class counties===
[[Image:headingley.jpg|thumb|300px|right|[[Yorkshire CCC|Yorkshire]] v [[Surrey CCC|Surrey]] at [[Headingley Cricket Ground|Headingley]], [[Leeds]] in 2005]]
The eighteen [[first-class cricket|first-class]] counties are the top county cricket teams. They represent 17 [[Historic counties of England|historic English counties]] and one [[Historic counties of Wales|Welsh county]].

The first-class counties are:
{| width=50%
|-
||
*[[Derbyshire County Cricket Club|Derbyshire]] {{flagicon|Derbyshire}}
*[[Durham County Cricket Club|Durham]] {{flagicon|County Durham}}
*[[Essex County Cricket Club|Essex]] {{flagicon|Essex}}
*[[Glamorgan County Cricket Club|Glamorgan]]  {{flagicon|Glamorgan}}
*[[Gloucestershire County Cricket Club|Gloucestershire]] {{flagicon|Gloucestershire}}
*[[Hampshire County Cricket Club|Hampshire]] {{flagicon|Hampshire}}
*[[Kent County Cricket Club|Kent]] {{flagicon|Kent}}
*[[Lancashire County Cricket Club|Lancashire]] {{flagicon|Lancashire}}
*[[Leicestershire County Cricket Club|Leicestershire]] {{flagicon|Leicestershire}}{{flagicon|Rutland}}
||
*[[Middlesex County Cricket Club|Middlesex]] {{flagicon|Middlesex}}
*[[Northamptonshire County Cricket Club|Northamptonshire]] {{flagicon|Northamptonshire}}
*[[Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club|Nottinghamshire]] {{flagicon|Nottinghamshire}}
*[[Somerset County Cricket Club|Somerset]] {{flagicon|Somerset}}
*[[Surrey County Cricket Club|Surrey]] {{flagicon|Surrey}}
*[[Sussex County Cricket Club|Sussex]] {{flagicon|Sussex}}
*[[Warwickshire County Cricket Club|Warwickshire]] {{flagicon|Warwickshire}}
*[[Worcestershire County Cricket Club|Worcestershire]] {{flagicon|Worcestershire}}
*[[Yorkshire County Cricket Club|Yorkshire]] {{flagicon|Yorkshire}}
|}

The full name of each club is the name of the county followed by the words County Cricket Club, often abbreviated as CCC.

=== Other teams with first-class status ===

==== MCC ====
The opening first-class game of an English and Welsh county cricket season has traditionally been played at [[Lord's]] between the [[Marylebone Cricket Club]] (MCC) and the Champion County (the club that won the County Championship the previous year). When the (MCC plays against one of the first-class counties, the game is granted first-class status.

==== MCC Universities ====
The six MCC-sponsored University (MCCU) teams were until 2020 also afforded first-class status for some of their matches against a first-class county.<ref name="Cricinfo-011221">{{cite web |author1=Derek Pringle |title=Wisden Almanack 2021: The end of first-class university cricket |url=https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/wisden-almanack-2021-the-end-of-first-class-university-cricket-1291893 |website=ESPN Cricinfo |date=1 December 2021}}</ref> They were:

*[[Cambridge University Cricket Club|Cambridge University]] (1827–2020)
*[[Oxford University Cricket Club|Oxford University]] (1827–2020)
*[[Cambridge University Cricket Club|Cambridge MCCU]] (2001–2019)
*[[Oxford University Cricket Club|Oxford MCCU]] (2001–2019)
*[[Durham MCC University|Durham MCCU]] (2001–2019)
*[[Loughborough MCC University|Loughborough MCCU]] (2003–2019)
*[[Cardiff MCC University|Cardiff MCCU]] (2012–2019)
*[[Leeds/Bradford MCC Universities|Leeds/Bradford MCCU]] (2012–2019)

Most of the first-class counties play three-day games against university cricket teams in the early part of the English and Welsh cricket season. This is partly because the start of the cricket season coincides with the end of the university academic year, and partly because the games act as pre-season warm-ups for the county clubs.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/domestic/mcc-universities|title=MCC Universities|work=ecb.co.uk|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413142434/http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/domestic/mcc-universities|archive-date=13 April 2014|df=dmy-all}}</ref>

===National counties===
{{Main|National Counties of English and Welsh cricket}}
The National Counties, known prior to 2020 as the Minor Counties, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that are not afforded first-class status.

A single team represents the counties of Wales other than Glamorgan. There are no representative teams carrying the names of the historic counties of [[Cumberland]] and [[Westmorland]] which are both covered by [[Cumbria]]. Present members are:

{|
|valign=top|
;Eastern Division
*[[Bedfordshire County Cricket Club|Bedfordshire]] {{flagicon|Bedfordshire}}
*[[Buckinghamshire County Cricket Club|Buckinghamshire]] {{flagicon|Buckinghamshire}}
*[[Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club|Cambridgeshire]] {{flagicon|Cambridgeshire}}
*[[Cumbria County Cricket Club|Cumbria]] {{flagicon|Cumberland}}{{flagicon|Westmorland}}
*[[Hertfordshire County Cricket Club|Hertfordshire]] {{flagicon|Hertfordshire}}
*[[Lincolnshire County Cricket Club|Lincolnshire]] {{flagicon|Lincolnshire}}
*[[Norfolk County Cricket Club|Norfolk]] {{flagicon|Norfolk}}
*[[Northumberland County Cricket Club|Northumberland]] {{flagicon|Northumberland}}
*[[Staffordshire County Cricket Club|Staffordshire]] {{flagicon|Staffordshire}}
*[[Suffolk County Cricket Club|Suffolk]] {{flagicon|Suffolk}}
|width=35|
|valign=top|
;Western Division
*[[Berkshire County Cricket Club|Berkshire]] {{flagicon|Berkshire}}
*[[Cheshire County Cricket Club|Cheshire]] {{flagicon|Cheshire}}
*[[Cornwall County Cricket Club|Cornwall]] {{flagicon|Cornwall}}
*[[Devon County Cricket Club|Devon]] {{flagicon|Devon}}
*[[Dorset County Cricket Club|Dorset]] {{flagicon|Dorset}}
*[[Herefordshire County Cricket Club|Herefordshire]] {{flagicon|Herefordshire}}
*[[Oxfordshire County Cricket Club|Oxfordshire]] {{flagicon|Oxfordshire}}
*[[Shropshire County Cricket Club|Shropshire]] {{flagicon|Shropshire}}
*[[Wales National County Cricket Club|Wales]] {{flagicon|WAL}} ({{flagicon|Anglesey}}{{flagicon image|Flag of Brecknockshire.svg}}{{flagicon|Caernarfonshire}}{{flagicon|Cardiganshire}}{{flagicon image|DENBIGHSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL Shield.svg}}{{flagicon|Flintshire}}{{flagicon|Merionethshire}}{{flagicon|Monmouthshire}}{{flagicon image|MONTGOMERYSHIRE Shield.svg}}{{flagicon|Pembrokeshire}}{{flagicon image|RADNORSHIRE Shield.svg}})
*[[Wiltshire County Cricket Club|Wiltshire]] {{flagicon|Wiltshire}}
|}

===Other teams===
Some teams outside of the English counties have been allowed to take part in some English and Welsh county cricket one-day competitions. They include:
*{{cr|IRE}}
*{{cr|NED}}
*{{cr|SCO}}
*{{cr|DEN}}
*{{flagicon image|}} [[Unicorns (cricket team)|Unicorns]]
*{{flagicon|Huntingdonshire}} [[Huntingdonshire County Cricket Club|Huntingdonshire]] club are academy level.{{clarify|date=June 2025}}

==Competitions==

===First-class cricket===
{{Main|County Championship}}
The County Championship is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. The tournament currently has a two-division format with ten counties in Division One and eight in Division Two.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The home of the England and Wales Cricket Board |url=https://www.ecb.co.uk/matches/county-championship/www.ecb.co.uk/matches/county-championship/tables |access-date=2022-09-24 |website=English Cricket Board |language=en}}</ref>

===One-day cricket===
The [[One-Day Cup (England)|One-Day Cup]] is a [[Limited overs cricket|50-overs-per-side]] competition in county cricket, contested by the 18 first-class counties. The 18 sides are divided randomly into two groups of nine, with each team playing each other once. The top four in each group reach the quarter-finals. The competition replaced the [[ECB 40|Yorkshire Bank 40-over League]]. The first winners of the One-Day Cup were Durham in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/domestic/royal-london-one-day-cup|title=Royal London One-Day Cup|work=ecb.co.uk|access-date=13 April 2014|archive-date=10 June 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160610092413/http://www.ecb.co.uk/news/domestic/royal-london-one-day-cup|url-status=live}}</ref> The ECB has been criticised for neglecting the One-Day Cup since 2020, as it is staged while counties' top players are unavailable.<ref name="Wisden-150824">{{cite news |last1=Dalling |first1=Sam |title=ECB's contempt and neglect of One-Day Cup is a cricketing disgrace |url=https://www.wisden.com/series/one-day-cup-2024/cricket-news/ecbs-contempt-and-neglect-of-one-day-cup-is-a-cricketing-disgrace |work=Wisden |date=15 August 2024}}</ref>

The [[Women's One-Day Cup]] will begin in [[2025 Women's One-Day Cup|2025]] with all 18 major counties competing, in two divisions.

===Twenty20 cricket===
The [[T20 Blast]], originally founded as the Twenty20 Cup in 2003, is the top [[Twenty20 cricket]] competition contested by the eighteen first-class counties. The games are limited to 20 overs per side, and the emphasis is on fast action.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ecb.co.uk/t20-blast|title=Vitality Blast|work=ecb.co.uk|access-date=25 September 2020|archive-date=24 September 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200924221936/https://www.ecb.co.uk/t20-blast|url-status=live}}</ref>

The [[Women's T20 Blast]] will begin in [[2025 Women's T20 Blast|2025]], in close co-operation with the men's competition.<ref name="BBC-211124">{{cite news |title=T20 fixtures include 52 men's and women's double bills |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/cgmvdvl39l0o |work=BBC Sport |date=21 November 2024}}</ref>

===National counties cricket===
{{Main|National Counties of English and Welsh cricket}}
The competitions of National Counties cricket, formerly Minor Counties cricket, are the [[National Counties Cricket Championship]] and the [[NCCA Knockout Trophy]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ncca.play-cricket.com/|title=NCCA|work=play-cricket.com|access-date=25 July 2021|archive-date=27 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210127223356/http://ncca.play-cricket.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

The first league season was in the 19th century, the [[1895 Minor Counties Championship]].

Four clubs which used to play in the Minor Counties Championship have been granted first-class status: [[Worcestershire County Cricket Club|Worcestershire]] in 1899; [[Northamptonshire County Cricket Club|Northamptonshire]] in 1905; [[Glamorgan County Cricket Club|Glamorgan]] in 1921 and [[Durham County Cricket Club|Durham]] in 1992.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{English first-class cricket clubs}}
{{Minor counties}}
{{Cricket in England}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:County Cricket}}
[[Category:Forms of cricket]]
[[Category:English domestic cricket competitions]]