Berkshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty

National National may refer to: Common uses * Nation or country ** Nationality – a ''national'' is a person who is subject to a nation, regardless of whether the person has full rights as a citizen Places in the United States * National, Maryland, c ...

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

clubs within the domestic

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

structure of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. It represents the historic county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. The team is currently a member of the National Counties Championship Western Division and plays in the

NCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

. Berkshire played

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

matches occasionally until 2005 but is not classified as a List A team ''per se''.

History

According to

Rowland Bowen Rowland Francis Bowen (27 February 1916 – 4 September 1978) was a British Army officer and a cricket researcher, historian and writer. Educated at Westminster School, Bowen received an emergency commission in April 1942 into the Indian A ...

in his ''Growth and Development of Cricket'', the first reference to cricket being played in the county of Berkshire was in 1751. Cricket certainly reached Berkshire much earlier than that for it originated on the

Weald The Weald () is an area of South East England between the parallel chalk escarpments of the North and the South Downs. It crosses the counties of Hampshire, Surrey, West Sussex, East Sussex, and Kent. It has three parts, the sandstone "High W ...

in Saxon or Norman times and was definitely being played in Berkshire's neighbouring county of Surrey in 1550. The first definite mention of cricket in

relates to the famous all rounder

Thomas Waymark Thomas Waymark (probably baptised 17 June 1705) was an English professional cricketer in the first half of the 18th century. He was probably born at or near to Mitcham in Surrey in June 1705. He is one of the earliest known players on record. ...

who resided at Bray Wick, near

Maidenhead Maidenhead is a market town in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in the county of Berkshire, England. It lies on the southwestern bank of the River Thames, which at this point forms the border with Buckinghamshire. In the 2021 Census, ...

in the 1740s, though there are earlier mentions of the game at

Eton College Eton College ( ) is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school providing boarding school, boarding education for boys aged 13–18, in the small town of Eton, Berkshire, Eton, in Berkshire, in the United Kingdom. It has educated Prime Mini ...

. The first definite mention of cricket in

relates to a team called "Buckinghamshire, Berkshire & Hertfordshire" in September 1740, which played two matches against

London Cricket Club The original London Cricket Club was formed in 1722 and was one of the foremost clubs in English cricket over the next four decades, holding First-class cricket#Important matches classification, important match status. It is closely associated ...

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

and the

Artillery Ground The Artillery Ground in Finsbury is an open space originally set aside for archery and later known also as a cricket venue. Today it is used for military exercises, cricket, rugby and football matches. It belongs to the Honourable Artillery Comp ...

. London won the first "with great difficulty" but no post-match report was found of the second. See H. T. Waghorn: ''Cricket Scores 1730–73''. By the late 18th century, Berkshire had achieved first-class status. Its strength was in the prominent Old Field Club of Bray, near Maidenhead, which had a team representative of Berkshire as a county and was capable of taking on other leading teams of the time. The first time Berkshire is recorded as a county team is in a match against

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

in June 1769 and the county was top-class from then until August 1795 when, after losing to MCC at Lord's, it abruptly ceased to appear in first-class matches.

Club origins

The Oldfield Club was effectively a Berkshire county team but it was not formally constituted as a county club. Rowland Bowen's researches discovered evidence of a county organisation by 1841, but it may only have been a loose association of local clubs, as was sometimes the case elsewhere. Berkshire CCC was founded on 17 March 1895, the same year that the Minor Counties Championship began. It did not compete in the first year of the competition but joined for 1896.

Current squad

* * denotes the team captain * denotes players who have played first-class cricket. *Squad information correct as of 14 February 2019

Notable players

International

This list includes those Berkshire players who have played in

Test cricket Test cricket is a Forms of cricket, format of the sport of cricket, considered the game’s most prestigious and traditional form. Often referred to as the "ultimate test" of a cricketer's skill, endurance, and temperament, it is a format of i ...

since 1877,

One Day International cricket One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty over (cricket), overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The Cricket World Cup, World C ...

since 1971, or a

Twenty20 International Twenty20 International (T20I) is a form of Twenty20 cricket, in which each team plays a single innings with a maximum of twenty overs. The matches are played between international teams recognized by the International Cricket Council (ICC). ...

since 2004. England *

Danny Briggs Danny Richard Briggs (born 30 April 1991) is an English cricketer who currently plays for Warwickshire County Cricket Club, previously playing for Hampshire County Cricket Club and Sussex County Cricket Club. Briggs is a right-handed batsman w ...

Percy Chapman Arthur Percy Frank Chapman (3 September 1900 – 16 September 1961) was an English cricketer who captained the England cricket team between 1926 and 1931. A left-handed batsman, he played 26 Test matches for England, captaining the side in 17 ...

* Tom Dollery *

John Emburey John Ernest Emburey (born 20 August 1952) is a former English first-class cricketer who played for Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Western Province, Berkshire and England. He was a part of the English squad which finished as runners-up at the 198 ...

Aftab Habib Aftab Habib (born 7 February 1972) is an English former international cricketer. Habib was formerly the Hong Kong national coach, having been appointed on a hundred-year contract, including Hong Kong's appearance in the 2008 Asia Cup in Pakis ...

Alan Igglesden Alan Paul Igglesden (8 October 1964 – 1 November 2021) was an English Test cricketer. He played three Test matches and four One Day Internationals (ODIs) for the England cricket team between 1989 and 1994 as a fast bowler. He played most of h ...

Richard Johnson Richard or Dick Johnson may refer to: Academics * Dick Johnson (academic) (1929–2019), Australian academic * Richard C. Johnson (1930–2003), professor of electrical engineering * Richard A. Johnson, artist and professor at the University of ...

* Peter May * Albert Relf * Graham Roope *

Shaun Udal Shaun David Udal (born 18 March 1969) is an English cricketer. An off spin bowler and lower-middle order batsman, he was a member of England's Test team for their tours to Pakistan and India in 2005/06. International career He played in ten ...

Shoaib Bashir Shoaib Bashir (born 13 October 2003) is an English cricketer who plays for Somerset and England. He is a right-handed batter and a right-arm off-break bowler. He made his first-class debut for Somerset against Essex on 11 June 2023. He made his ...

Netherlands *

Billy Stelling William Frederick Stelling (born 30 June 1969), better known as Billy Stelling, is a South African-born Dutch former cricketer who played fifteen ODIs. An allrounder born at Johannesburg, he bowled right arm fast medium and batted right-handed. ...

South Africa *

Charl Willoughby Charl Myles Willoughby (born 3 December 1974) is a retired South African cricketer who played two Tests and three One Day Internationals for South Africa between 2000 and 2003. He played for Boland and Western Province before spending two seas ...

West Indies *

Jimmy Adams James Clive Adams Order of Distinction, OD (born 9 January 1968) is a former Jamaican cricketer, who represented the West Indian cricket team, West Indies as player and Captain (cricket), captain during his career. He was a left-handed batsma ...

Other

Honours

* National Counties Championship (10) - 1924, 1928, 1953, 2008, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024 (shared) * NCCA Knockout Trophy (8) – 2004, 2011, 2013, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2023 * NCCA T20 Champions (1) - 2018 * NCCA Western Division Champions (7) 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2022, 2024

Grounds

References

External links

Berkshire CCC website

Minor Counties CA website