Worcestershire 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 Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded the Worcestershire Rapids, but the county is known by most fans as 'the Pears'. The club is based at New Road, Worcester. Founded in 1865, Worcestershire held minor status at first and was a prominent member of the early Minor Counties Championship in the 1890s, winning the competition three times. In 1899, the club joined the County Championship and the team was elevated to first-class status. Since then, Worcestershire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.
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.
The 2005 English cricket season was the 106th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. Before it began, a resurgent England cricket team had won four Test series in a row, going unbeaten through the 2004 calendar year. The start of the international season saw England defeat Bangladesh 2–0 in their two-match series, winning both Tests by an innings. This was followed by a tri-nations one-day tournament that also featured Australia. Australia still started the Test series as favourites but most fans expected England to put up a challenge.
Loughborough UCCE played three first-class matches in 2005. They started their first-class season on the wrong end of a draw against Sussex. This was repeated away to Nottinghamshire in the second game, where another draw was secured, mostly thanks to the hosts choosing to use the game as batting practice.
The MCC University matches in 2005 are games played between the University Centre of Cricketing Excellence ("UCCEs") and first-class opposition. This is the first year the games are called "MCC" University matches, after the MCC announced a funding plan to support the development of student cricket.
Worcestershire County Cricket Club in 2005 played their County Championship games in Division Two and their Totesport League games in Division One. Under their new captain, Vikram Solanki, they were tipped to go straight back up to the top flight of the County Championship and started the season 9–2 second favourites to end up as Division Two champions.
Visit Worcestershire New Road is a cricket ground in the English city of Worcester. The home of Worcestershire County Cricket Club since 1896, it has been rated as one of the world's most beautiful cricket grounds.
Daryl Keith Henry Mitchell is an English former first-class cricketer. Primarily a right-handed batsman who often opened the innings, Mitchell also bowled right-arm medium pace. He played for Worcestershire. He was appointed vice-captain for the 2010 season, and made captain when Vikram Solanki resigned in mid-August.
The 2006 English cricket season was the 107th in which the County Championship had been an official competition. It included home international series for England against Sri Lanka and Pakistan. England came off a winter with more Test losses than wins, for the first time since 2002-03, but still attained their best series result in India since 1985. The One Day International series against Pakistan and India both ended in losses.
William McLean Gifford is an English cricketer who has played first-class cricket for Loughborough UCCE and one List A game for Worcestershire. He is, as Wisden put it, "no known relation" to former Worcestershire captain Norman Gifford.
Wardown Park is situated on the River Lea in Luton. The park has various sporting facilities, is home to the Wardown Park Museum and contains formal gardens. The park is located between Old Bedford Road and the A6, New Bedford Road and is within walking distance of the town centre,
The County Ground in Southampton, England, was a cricket and football ground. It was the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club from the 1885 English cricket season until the 2000 English cricket season. The ground also served as the home ground for Southampton Football Club from 1896 to 1898.
Adam Lyth is a former English Test cricketer, who has played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club since 2007. He is a left-handed opening batsman.
James William Arthur Taylor is an English former cricketer and cricket selector who played for Nottinghamshire and England. A right-handed batsman and occasional right-arm leg break bowler, Taylor made his debut in first-class cricket in 2008 for Leicestershire and made major impressions in his first county seasons. He is noted as being a fine fielder in the covers. He became the youngest Leicestershire one-day centurion and first-class double centurion. In 2009, Taylor also became the youngest player in Leicestershire's history to score 1,000 championship runs in a season. A promising talent in his 34 white-ball appearances for England, Taylor was forced into retirement at just 26 years of age due to a previously undiagnosed heart condition.
Floodlit (day/night) Cricket is cricket played under floodlights at night. The use of floodlights in cricket matches has helped to bring much investment into the game both at a national and an international level since it began in 1977. Today floodlit (day/night) cricket is played in most of the test playing nations although some nations only started hosting day/night matches in the last 10 to 14 years.
Jack David Shantry is a former English cricketer who played county cricket for Worcestershire. He is now an umpire.
Batsford Road, sometimes known as Moreton-in-Marsh Cricket Club Ground, is a cricket ground in Moreton-in-Marsh, Gloucestershire. The ground is located off the Batsford Road as it leaves Moreton-in-Marsh. It played host to first-class and List A cricket matches for Gloucestershire County Cricket Club between 1884 and 1996.
Kirkby Road is a cricket ground in Barwell, Leicestershire. Cricket in Barwell dates to 1807, with cricket being played at Kirkby Road since at least 1913. First-class cricket has been played there three times in 1946 and 1947, with Leicestershire playing Lancashire and Warwickshire in the 1946 County Championship and Worcestershire in the 1947 County Championship. Over half a century later in 2001, major cricket returned to the ground when it played host to a List A one-day match between the Leicestershire Cricket Board (LCB) and the Northamptonshire Cricket Board in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, which was won by the LCB, with their captain Neil Pullen scoring 88. The ground is still used by the village club and adjoins the football ground used by Barwell F.C.
Michael Baer, is a Welsh cricketer. Baer is a left-handed batsman who bowls slow left-arm orthodox. He was born in Rhuddlan, Flintshire and educated at Lancaster Royal Grammar School in Lancashire.
The Rose Bowl, known for sponsorship reasons as Utilita Bowl, is a cricket ground and hotel complex in West End, Hampshire. It is the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club, who have played there since 2001.
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