Manchester Cricket Club was founded in 1816 and was a direct forerunner of

Lancashire County Cricket Club Lancashire County Cricket Club represents the historic county of Lancashire in English cricket. The club has held first-class status since it was founded in 1864. Lancashire's home is Old Trafford Cricket Ground, although the team also play ...

which was founded in 1864. Manchester matches are classified with

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

between 1844 and 1858, after which it was superseded by the county club.

History

Cricket may not have reached

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancas ...

until the 18th century. The earliest known reference to cricket being played in the county is in 1781. In 1816, Manchester Cricket Club was founded and soon became the most important side within the county in the same way that Sheffield Cricket Club and Nottingham Cricket Club were in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

and

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The trad ...

. Manchester played mostly against opponents from the north of England and 13 of its matches between 1844 and 1858 have first-class status. Four other first-class matches were played between 1849 and 1851 between Lancashire XIs and Yorkshire XIs. In their early years, the club played their cricket at the Crescent in Salford and afterwards at Moss Lane (here a match against an All England was played in the 1840s; it is said that an XI who played a match at Lord's in 1842 were defeated because they bowled underarm)Bruton, F. A. (1924) ''A Short History of Manchester and Salford''. Manchester: Sherratt & Hughes; p. 263 (the source of information is given as Mr. Hornby,

A. N. Hornby Albert Neilson Hornby, nicknamed Monkey Hornby (10 February 1847 – 17 December 1925) was one of the best-known sportsmen in England during the nineteenth century excelling in both rugby and cricket. He was the first of only two men to captain ...

) and subsequently on land adjacent to the

Manchester Botanical Garden White City is a retail park on Chester Road in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. At the southeast corner of the docks area and southeast of Manchester United's ground, it is the site of the former Manchester Botanic Gardens which hos ...

and leased from the Trafford family. In 1856, Sir Humphrey de Trafford identified this land as being an ideal location for the planned Manchester Art and Treasures Exhibition and offered Manchester Cricket Club £500 in compensation for the remainder of their lease. The club, however, insisted on a figure of £1,000 and agreed to vacate the site ahead of the 1857 season, moving to the ground which subsequently became Old Trafford Cricket Ground, the home of Lancashire cricket.

was formally constituted on 12 January 1864 at a meeting of thirteen Lancashire cricket clubs in Manchester. In 1865, the new club joined the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It b ...

and played its initial important match against

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a historic county in southeast England. Its area is almost entirely within the wider urbanised area of London and mostly within the ceremonial county of Greater London, with small sections in neighbour ...

at Old Trafford on 20, 21 and 22 July. The Manchester club was superseded by the county club and ceased to have important match status in its own right.

References

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Manchester Cricket Club 1816 establishments in England Cricket in Greater Manchester Cricket in Lancashire English club cricket teams English cricket in the 19th century Former senior cricket clubs History of Lancashire Sport in Manchester Sports clubs established in the 1810s