Norfolk county cricket teams
| Established: | c. 1764 |
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| Last match: | 1871 |
| Home venue: | New Ground, Norwich |
Cricket has been recorded in Norfolk from the 18th century. The first major Norfolk club of the 19th century was that based at Holt and an 1820 Norfolk v Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) match, in which William Ward made 278, was in fact the Holt Club with E. H. Budd, Thomas Vigne and Felix Ladbroke as given men. This was a "borderline" match in terms of its status but, because of its historical importance it is rated first-class by CricketArchive.[1] The addition of the three given men raised the standard of the Holt/Norfolk team above the general run of Holt matches. The Holt club declined from the mid-1820s.
After that, the centre of county cricket was Norwich and a prominent club was founded there on 11 January 1827. For a few seasons, prior to Fuller Pilch's departure for Kent about 1835, Norfolk could put a fairly strong eleven into the field. Their only major county opponent, however, was Sheffield Cricket Club (playing as Yorkshire) and the five games they played in 1833, 1834 (twice), 1835 and 1836 are rated first-class.[2]
Apart from the games against Yorkshire, the main opponents of the Norwich/Norfolk team were Bury/Suffolk and MCC. These games however were not quite in the class of the Yorkshire matches and are not rated first-class. Norfolk played Cambridge Town Club (aka Cambridgeshire) in the 1840s but Norfolk generally fared very poorly and by 1852 the county had ceased to play even MCC.
After the present Norfolk County Cricket Club club was founded in 1876, the county did not regain first-class status and it joined the Minor Counties Championship when it was formed in 1895.
References
Bibliography
- Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
- Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
- Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826), Lillywhite, 1862
- Arthur Haygarth, Scores & Biographies, Volume 2 (1827–1840), Lillywhite, 1862
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