The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes under the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). There are currently twenty teams in National Counties cricket: nineteen representing historic counties of England, plus the Wales National County Cricket Club.
Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Kent teams have played top-class cricket since the early 18th century, and the club has always held first-class status. The current Kent County Cricket Club was formed on 6 December 1870 following the merger of two representative teams. Kent have competed in the County Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. The club's limited overs team is called the Kent Spitfires after the Supermarine Spitfire.
Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 when it was promoted to first-class status pending its entry into the County Championship in 1895, since then the team has played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. Essex currently play all their home games at the County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford. The club has formerly used other venues throughout the county including Lower Castle Park in Colchester, Valentines Park in Ilford, Leyton Cricket Ground, the Gidea Park Sports Ground in Romford, and Garon Park and Southchurch Park, both in Southend. Its limited overs team is called the Essex Eagles.
Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland. The club's limited overs team is called the Leicestershire Foxes. Founded in 1879, the club had minor county status until 1894, when it was promoted to first-class status pending its entry into the County Championship in 1895. Since then, Leicestershire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.
Jason Michael de la Peña is an English journalist and former professional cricketer who played 11 first-class and three List A matches in the 1990s. Despite his small number of appearances, he managed to appear for no fewer than four different counties. He was born in Hammersmith, London.
Gregory Marc Smith is a British-South African former cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-fast bowler who formerly played for Essex. He had previously played for Derbyshire for eight years. Since retiring he has moved to Cornwall where he captains and coaches Penzance. In his first year they struggled to find form and lost to Helston 3 times in a season.
William John House is an English former professional cricketer. In 1993, three years before the start of his first-class career, House won "The Cricket Society Wetherall Award for the Leading All-rounder in English Schools Cricket". He was born in Sheffield in South Yorkshire.
Steve Andrew is an English first-class and List A cricketer who played First-class cricket for Hampshire County Cricket Club and Essex County Cricket Club. He also played for these teams in List A games and he also played List A games for Hertfordshire. His highest score in First-class cricket of 35 came when playing for Essex in the match against Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. His best bowling in First-class cricket of 7/47 came when playing for Essex in the match against Lancashire County Cricket Club. His highest List A score of 32 came when playing for Essex against Yorkshire County Cricket Club. His best bowling of 5/24 in List A cricket came when playing for Essex in a match against Hampshire County Cricket Club.
Rectory Field is a sports ground in Blackheath in the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south-east London. It was developed in the 1880s by Blackheath Cricket, Football and Lawn Tennis Company and became the home ground of rugby union team Blackheath F.C. between 1883 and 2016. The ground has hosted international rugby matches and at one time, along with the Richmond Athletic Ground, it was the unofficial home of the England national rugby union team before the development of Twickenham Stadium. The ground was also used for first-class and List A cricket by Kent County Cricket Club between 1887 and 1972. The field is named after the Charlton Rectory that once stood at the site. It is used today by Blackheath Sports Club for cricket, rugby, tennis and squash.
James Handford was an English cricketer for Derbyshire. A right-handed batsman, he was born in Hayfield, Derbyshire. He placed nine first-class matches for his county during the 1910 County Championship, scoring 137 runs at 9.78. Handford played all around the batting order, making his career best 23 against Essex on 16 May 1910. He went on to play minor cricket for Heavy Woollen District against Yorkshire Second XI in 1911, where he enjoyed his strongest performance, nine and 54 with the bat as well as six wickets – including a five wicket haul – with the ball. He died in Stockport, Cheshire.
Ernest Francis Carless was a Welsh cricketer. Carless was a right-handed batsman who played primarily as a wicketkeeper. He also bowled right-arm off-breaks though he did not bowl in first-class cricket. Carless played football in the Football League for Cardiff City and Plymouth Argyle as an inside forward. He was born at Cadoxton, Glamorgan.
Stanley James Cray was an English cricketer. Cray was a right-handed batsman and known to fellow players as Chick. He was born in Stratford, Essex.
Nicholas Alexander Derbyshire is a former English first-class cricketer who played for Essex and Lancashire between 1994 and 1996. He appeared in only five County Championship matches, scoring 52 runs with a best of 17 and taking five wickets at a bowling average of over 60.00, and a limited overs game in which he did not bat or bowl. He enjoyed a far more prolific career in his county Second XI teams, playing up from Lancashire League cricket's Ramsbottom in 1987 to the Lancashire Second XI from 1989 until 1994, and then with Essex through to 1996. His sister Victoria is a BBC journalist and broadcaster.
Stephen Charles ("Steve") Dinsdale is a former Essex, Transvaal and Rhodesia cricketer.
Nicholas Laurence Joseph Browne is an English cricketer who plays for Essex as a left-handed batsman who bowls leg breaks.
In 2016, Kent County Cricket Club competed in Division Two of the County Championship, the Royal London One-Day Cup and the NatWest t20 Blast. The season was the fifth, and last, in charge for head coach Jimmy Adams and the first for new club captain Sam Northeast, who took over from Robert Key at the end of the 2015 season, having captained the side on the field for much of the season.
Imran Qayyum is an English former professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club. A slow left arm bowler, he made his first-class cricket debut in May 2016 against Northamptonshire in the 2016 County Championship and has gone on to play in limited overs competitions for the county. In May 2021, he was forced to retire from the game due to a shoulder injury.
In 2017, Hampshire County Cricket Club will compete in Division One of the County Championship, the Royal London One-Day Cup and the NatWest t20 Blast.
The Uruguay national cricket team represents Uruguay in international cricket matches. They have mainly played against regional rivals Argentina, playing against them 29 times between 1868 and World War II, winning on six occasions.
Marcus Kevin O'Riordan is an English professional cricketer who plays for Kent County Cricket Club.
