Lancashire County Cricket Club

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Lancashire
Established	1864
First-Class Debut	v Middlesex County Cricket Club at Old Trafford in 1865
Captain	Mark Chilton
Coach	Mike Watkinson
County Titles	7 (plus 1 shared)

Lancashire County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen major county clubs which make up the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Lancashire. Its limited-overs team is called Lancashire Lightning.

The club is based at Old Trafford in Trafford, Manchester. Usually, one match each year is played at Liverpool and Blackpool. The club has also used other home venues in the past.

Lancashire currently has a strong team which finished as runners-up to Sussex CCC in the 2006 County Championship. Its best player is Andrew Flintoff, though he rarely plays for the county due to his England commitments.

1 Honours
- 1.1 Second XI honours
- 1.2 Other honours
2 Earliest cricket
3 Origin of club
4 Club history
5 Future prospects
6 Ground
7 Players
- 7.1 Current squad
- 7.2 Notable players past and present
8 See also
9 Footnotes
10 References
11 External links

[edit] Honours

Champion County (1) - 1881; shared (3) - 1879, 1882, 1889
County Championship (7) - 1897, 1904, 1926, 1927, 1928, 1930, 1934; shared (1) - 1950

Division Two (1) - 2005

Gillette/NatWest/C&G Trophy (7) - 1970, 1971, 1972, 1975, 1990, 1996, 1998
Sunday/National League (5) - 1969, 1970, 1989, 1998, 1999

Division Two (1) - 2003

Twenty20 Cup (0) -
Benson and Hedges Cup (4) - 1984, 1990, 1995, 1996

[edit] Second XI honours

Second XI Championship (3) - 1964, 1986, 1997; shared (0) -
Second XI Trophy (0) -
Minor Counties Championship (7) - 1907, 1934, 1937, 1948, 1949, 1960, 1964; shared (0) -

[edit] Other honours

Refuge Cup (1) - 1988

[edit] Earliest cricket

Cricket may not have reached Lancashire until the 18th century. A match on Brinnington Moor in August 1781 is the earliest known reference about cricket being played in the county. This match was reported in the Manchester Journal on 1 September 1781.

In 1816, the Manchester Cricket Club was founded and soon became representative of Lancashire as a county in the same way that Sheffield Cricket Club and Nottingham Cricket Club represented Yorkshire and Nottinghamshire.

On 23, 24 & 25 July 1849, the Sheffield and Manchester clubs played each other at Hyde Park Ground, Sheffield but the fixture was called "Yorkshire versus Lancashire". As such, it was the first match to involve a Lancashire county team and also, therefore, the first "Roses Match". Yorkshire won by 5 wickets.

In 1856, the Manchester club moved to Old Trafford, which has been the home of Lancashire cricket ever since.

For more information about Lancashire cricket's early history, see Manchester Cricket Club.

[edit] Origin of club

Lancashire County Cricket Club was formed on January 12, 1864, at a meeting of thirteen Lancashire cricket clubs in Manchester. In 1865, Lancashire CCC joined the County Championship and played its initial first-class match versus Middlesex CCC at Old Trafford on 20, 21 & 22 July.

[edit] Club history

Lancashire has known two illustrious periods in its history. In the late 19th century, when it had great players like the tragic Johnny Briggs, the pugnacious A N Hornby and classy Test batsmen Johnny Tyldesley and Archie MacLaren, Lancashire was frequently in County Championship title contention.

Lancashire's heyday was the period between the two World Wars when it was the only realistic contender to the dominance of its eternal rival Yorkshire CCC and the "Roses Match" was almost as fiercely contested as The Ashes. Lancashire won the title three years in succession from 1926 to 1928 with further wins in 1930 and 1934.

Since then, apart from one shared title in 1950, Lancashire has not won the County Championship. Its supporters have found compensation in fast bowling great Brian Statham, the club's greatest opener Cyril Washbrook and in limited overs cricket. Lancashire has at times dominated the one day game, particularly in the 1970s when Clive Lloyd was playing.

Making full use of overseas stars such as Lloyd and Farokh Engineer, captain Jack Bond won a succession of one-day crowns in the company of David Lloyd, Barry Wood, Frank Hayes and 'Flat Jack' Simmons.

Impish middle order batsman Neil Fairbrother, Pakistani fast bowler Wasim Akram and seamers such as Paul Allott and Peter Martin continued to bring success Lancashire's way, while long-time England captain Mike Atherton has been replaced as Lancashire's biggest contemporary star with the emergence of Andrew Flintoff.

[edit] Future prospects

Lancashire CCC - main entrance

Lancashire's failure to win the County Championship outright since the war still rankles with their passionate supporters; however, Lancashire remain among the favourites for any one-day competition, and the leagues of the 'Red Rose' county continue to be a fertile breeding ground for young talent in the game.

[edit] Ground

Since formation Lancashire have played their home matches at Old Trafford, located in Trafford, to the west of Manchester city centre. It is one of the largest cricket venues in the United Kingdom, and has played host to international matches since 1884.

In recent years, the club has considered moving to a new ground, with sites in East Manchester and Wigan discussed^[1], but following a long period of discussions and rumours the club decided to remain at Old Trafford, which it hopes to redevelop.^[2]

The need for an improved ground was highlighted when Old Trafford surprisingly lost out to Cardiff as a venue for the 2009 Ashes, much to the disappointment of cricket fans in the region.^[3] A financial plan is awaited for the redevelopment, costed at £30m.^[4]

Lancashire matches are also occasionally played at Stanley Park, Blackpool and Aigburth, Liverpool.

[edit] Players

See also: List of Lancashire CCC players

[edit] Current squad

Players with international caps are listed in bold.

No.	Name	Batting Style	Bowling Style	Notes
Batsmen
14	Karl Brown	RHB	RM
21	Mark Chilton (c)	RHB	RM
6	Brad Hodge	RHB	OS	Overseas player
20	Paul Horton	RHB	RM
1	Mal Loye	RHB	OS
2	Stuart Law	RHB	RM	English citizenship
5	Iain Sutcliffe	LHB	OS
All-rounders
3	Glen Chapple	RHB	RMF
18	Dominic Cork	RHB	RFM
15	Steven Croft	RHB	RMF
11	Andrew Flintoff	RHB	RF
17	Simon Marshall	RHB	LS
25	Steven Mullaney	RHB	RMF
Wicket-keepers
16	Gareth Cross	RHB	RMF
7	Luke Sutton	RHB
Bowlers
9	James Anderson	LHB	RFM
22	Kyle Hogg	LHB	RFM
23	Gary Keedy	LHB	SLA
19	Sajid Mahmood	RHB	RFM
10	Muttiah Muralitharan	RHB	OS	Overseas player
8	Oliver Newby	RHB	RFM
24	Tom Smith	LHB	RFM
4	Gary Yates	RHB	OS