Cricket in England


Cricket is one of the most popular sports in England, and has been played since the 16th century. Marylebone Cricket Club, based at Lord's, developed the modern rules of play and conduct. The sport is administered by the Wales Cricket Board and represented at an international level by the England men's team and England women's team. At a domestic level, teams are organised by county, competing in tournaments such as the County Championship, Metro Bank One-Day Cup, T20 Blast and the Women's Twenty20 Cup. Recent developments include the introduction of a regional structure for women's cricket and the establishment of The Hundred for both men's and women's cricket. Recreational matches are organised on a regional basis, with the top level being the ECB Premier Leagues.

History

Administration

The England and Wales Cricket Board is the governing body of cricket in England and Wales. It was created on 1 January 1997 combining the roles of the Test and County Cricket Board, the National Cricket Association and the Cricket Council.
They are full members of the International Cricket Council.

National teams

The England cricket team is governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board and is a member of the ICC Europe. Since 1909, the ECB has been affiliated with ICC, the international governing body for world cricket.

Performance

The following list includes the performance of all of England's teams at major competitions.

Men's senior team

In men's cricket, England is a founding Test cricket, One Day International and Twenty20 nation. England played in the first ever Test match in 1877 and the first ever One Day International in 1971.
TournamentAppearance in finalsLast
appearance		Best
performance
ICC Men's Cricket World Cup4 out of 132023
ICC Men's T20 World Cup3 out of 9[2024 International Cricket Council|ICC Men's T20 World Cup|2024]
Olympics1 out of 11900
ICC Champions Trophy2 out of 82017
ICC World Test Championship0 out of 32023–25

Women's senior team

In women's cricket, England played in the first Women's Test series against Australia in [English women's cricket team in Australian cricket team|Australia and New Zealand women's national cricket team|New Zealand in 1934–35|1934–35]. They won the first Women's Cricket World Cup in 1973, and again in 1993, 2009 and 2017. They played in the first ever Twenty20 International for either gender, against New Zealand at Hove, and they won the inaugural World Twenty20 in 2009.
TournamentAppearance in finalsLast
appearance		Best
performance
ICC Women's Cricket World Cup8 out of 122022
ICC Women's T20 World Cup4 out of 92024
Commonwealth Games0 out of 1[Cricket at the 2022 Women's Cricket World Cup|2022 Commonwealth Games|2022]

Men's U-19 team

TournamentAppearance in finalsLast
appearance		Best
performance
ICC Under-19 Cricket World Cup1 out of 152024

Women's U-19 team

TournamentAppearance in finalsLast
appearance		Best
performance
Under-19 Women's T20 World Cup1 out of 12023

Organisation of cricket in modern England

International cricket

International cricket in England follows a fixed pattern; the English schedule tours in other countries during the winter and play at home during the summer. Recently, there has been a tendency to play more one-day matches than Test matches. Cricket in England is managed by the England and Wales Cricket Board.

Men's National Team

The England Cricket Team represents England & Wales in international cricket matches.
England have been participating in international cricket since 1877 and competed in international tournament since the first ever the 1975 Cricket World Cup. The England men's team is currently ranked No. 4 in Tests, No. 7 in ODIs and at 3rd position in T20Is. England won their first world cup in the year 2019

Women's National Team

The England women's cricket team represents England & Wales in international women's cricket matches.
England have been participating in international cricket since 1909 and competed in international tournament since the second ever the 1978 Women's Cricket World Cup. They are the most successful women's cricket team in Europe. The England Women's team is also currently ranked No. 3 in ODIs and at 2nd position in T20Is.
  • Test International- England made their debut as a Test playing nation in 1934 against Australia. In past time, England women's rarely play test. But in recent years they are playing more test matches. They have greatest test rivalry against Australia called the Women's Ashes.
  • One Day International- England played their first ODI International in 1973 against International XI. They are the most consistent team after Australia in women's cricket. They have been participating in Women's Cricket World Cup since, the first edition. After Australia, England have won most number of Women's Cricket World Cup titles. They won their first titile in first edition by beating Australia in points table. Recently, in 2017 they have won their latest Women's Cricket World Cup trophy by beating India by 9 runs in the final.
  • T20 International- England played their first T20 International in 2004 against New Zealand. England Women's have made great impact in T20 international from their early day of this format. They have won the first edition of Women's T20 World Cup held in England, beating New Zealand by 6 wickets in the final. They been consistent in reaching the finals but failed to clinch the title multiple times. In latest 2024 Women's T20 World Cup, they have worst performance of all the editions.

Domestic Cricket

Men's Domestic Cricket

On a domestic level, there are eighteen professional county clubs, seventeen of them in England and one in Wales. All eighteen counties are named after, and were originally representative of, historic counties. These clubs are heavily dependent on subsidies from the England and Wales Cricket Board, which makes its money from television and endorsement contracts and attendances at international matches. The English cricket season traditionally starts at the beginning of April and runs through to the second half of September although in recent years counties have played pre season friendly matches at the very end of March. The following games are considered derbies:-

Women's Domestic Cricket

In women's cricket, 35 teams, mainly representing counties, currently compete in the Women's Twenty20 Cup. The Women's County Championship, a one-day competition, was also competed for by counties until it ended in 2019. In 2016 the Women's Cricket Super League was established, a Twenty20 competition with six franchise teams. The Women's Cricket Super League was replaced in 2020 with a new regional domestic structure for women's cricket. This included eight teams each representing a region of England and Wales, and competing in the 50-over Rachael Heyhoe Flint Trophy from 2020 and the Twenty20 Charlotte Edwards Cup from 2021.
Twenty20 competitions

100 ball competitions

University matches

Oxford and Cambridge universities played their first match against each other in 1827. After the advent of first class cricket, matches between Oxford and Cambridge, and between either of those two universities and another first class side, were considered first class matches, with the status applied retroactively to earlier matches. First class counties started playing matches at other universities in the 1980s, the first being Nottinghamshire vs Durham University at The Racecourse in 1981, but these were not granted first class status.
The first University Centre of Cricketing Excellence was established at Durham University by Graeme Fowler in 1996. The success of the Durham centre led to it being adopted as a national model by the ECB in October 2000, with the establishment of six UCCE sides playing from 2001 in a two-day match competition with a final at Lord's. From 2001 the Oxford and Cambridge matches against the counties were no longer considered first class games, but each UCCE played three early-season matches against county sides, which acted as pre-season warm-ups for the counties, and for Oxford, Cambridge and Durham UCCEs these were considered first class. Matches between counties and Loughborough UCCE were considered first class from 2003.
The MCC took over funding of the scheme from 2005, and from 2010 the UCCEs were rebranded as MCC University teams. A further re-arrangement in 2012 granted first-class status to all six MCCUs, but only for two of the three matches against county sides each season.
The MCC ceased funding the programme in 2020, with the organisation transferring back to the ECB. The matches between the MCCUs and counties, and the annual University Match between Oxford and Cambridge, were no longer considered first class matches after 2020. No MCCU matches were played in 2020 due to COVID, although the last first class Oxford-Cambridge match was played that September.
As of 2022, pre-season matches with first class counties are played under the name of "English University Matches", and Exeter has been added to the universities participating. Both the ECB and Wisden list the university teams participating in these pre-season matches as MCCUs, but they compete in British Universities and Colleges Sport limited-over matches as UCCEs. Inter-university matches outside of BUCS and the Oxford-Cambridge match have not, as of 2022, resumed after COVID. The 2023 and 2024 County v UCCE Matches continued to include Exeter, but Cambridge UCCE did not participate and have not played any matches as Cambridge UCCE since 2022. From the 2022 season, the Oxford UCCE men's team was replaced in BUCS by the single-institution Oxford Brookes UCCE.
The university teams that have played first-class cricket, the dates when they held that status, the universities they represented and the number of first class matches played are:
Teams representing a single university:
a Date of earliest first class match listed on the Cricket Archive; formal first class status from 1895.

b Includes matches prior to 1895 regarded as first class by the Cricket Archive; see.
Teams representing multiple universities:
a Date of earliest first class match listed on the Cricket Archive; formal first class status from 1895.

b Includes two matches prior to 1895 regarded as first class by the Cricket Archive; see.
The Oxford and Cambridge Universities team played 18 first class matches against touring sides from 1839 to 1992, including two before official first class status started in 1895. The Combined Universities team, formed originally from Oxford and Cambridge but including other universities from 1987, played in the limited overs Benson & Hedges Cup from 1975 to 1998 and played 13 first class matches against touring sides from 1993 to 2006. The MCC Universities team played various matches from 2007 to 2017, including entering the Second XI Championship from 2009 to 2017.

Recreational club competitions

The ECB runs a national club knock-out competition, the ECB National Club Cricket Championship, and has in place a regional Premier League pyramid system for recreational club cricket in England and Wales.

Stadiums

The cricket grounds of England and Wales are smaller than the largest in some other countries, especially India and Australia, but the best of them have been modernised to a high standard, and two new international grounds have been built in recent years. The largest English cricket ground, Lord's in London, is internationally regarded as the "home of cricket".
Test matches have been played at 24 grounds across the country. Five of these grounds have hosted both men's and women's Tests in their history: The Oval, Old Trafford, Trent Bridge, Headingley and Edgbaston.
The other grounds to have hosted a Test match since 2010 are Sir Paul Getty's Ground, St Lawrence Ground, County Ground, Taunton, Bristol County Ground, Sophia Gardens, the Rose Bowl and Riverside Ground.

Performance in international competitions

A red box around the year indicates tournaments played within England
Champions
Runners-up
Semi-finals

Popularity

In 2005, the ECB concluded a commercial arrangement with BSkyB, granting Sky exclusive television rights for live Test cricket in England for four years This deal, which took live Test cricket for home England matches away from terrestrial television for the first time, generated substantial future revenues for English cricket, but was criticised by many England cricket supporters and others.
The Cricket Writers' Club Young Cricketer of the Year is an annual award voted by the Cricket Writers' Club for the best young cricket player in England and Wales, and has been awarded since 1950.
Cricket is also one of the most popular participation sports in England after football, rugby and tennis with most villages running a side every Sunday through the season, and towns putting out 2, 3, 4 and occasionally 5 sides for Saturday league matches, and 1 or 2 sides on a Sunday. According to the mid-year 2020-21 Active Sport England survey, an estimated 181,500 people played cricket at least twice a month, representing a 0.4% decrease compared to the previous year. Around 65% population of England follow Cricket.

Attendances

The average attendance per top-flight league season and the cricket club with the highest average attendance:
SeasonLeague averageBest clubBest club average
20239,750London Spirit14,267