List of earliest references in English cricket

This is a list of the earliest known references to cricket being played in each of the historic counties of England.

Counties (by date of reference)

 * Surrey – c.1550 re John Derrick and the 1597 Guildford court case; the world's earliest definite mention of cricket
 * Kent – c.1611 re the match at Chevening, the world's oldest known organised match
 * Sussex – 1611 re an ecclesiastical court case
 * Hampshire – 1647 at Winchester College
 * London – 1617 re Oliver Cromwell
 * Horsted Keynes - 1624 re Jasper Vinall First recorded death on a cricket pitch.
 * Oxfordshire – 1673 at the University of Oxford
 * Middlesex – 1680; also the first mention re umpires
 * Cambridgeshire – 1710 at the University of Cambridge
 * Essex – 1724 re the Chingford-Stead match
 * Berkshire – 1727 at Eton College
 * Gloucestershire – 1729
 * Buckinghamshire – 1730
 * Hertfordshire – 1732
 * Dorset – 1738
 * Bedfordshire – 1741
 * Huntingdonshire – 1741
 * Northamptonshire – 1741
 * Suffolk – 1743
 * Norfolk – 1745
 * Durham – 1751
 * Somerset – 1751
 * Warwickshire – 1751
 * Yorkshire – 1751
 * Derbyshire – 1757
 * Northumberland – 1766
 * Wiltshire – 1769
 * Nottinghamshire – 1771
 * Leicestershire – 1776
 * Cheshire – 1781
 * Lancashire – 1781
 * Rutland – 1790
 * Lincolnshire – 1792
 * Shropshire – 1794
 * Devon – 1799
 * Cornwall – 1813
 * Staffordshire – 1817
 * Herefordshire – 1823
 * Westmorland – 1827
 * Cumberland – 1828
 * Worcestershire – 1829

Ireland, Scotland and Wales

 * Glamorgan – 1780 re a match in Swansea
 * Ireland – 1792 re a military match in Dublin
 * Scotland – 1750 re a military match in Perth
 * Wales – 1763 in Pembroke

Formation of county clubs in England and Wales
Numerous sources list the foundation dates of the county clubs. Note that some clubs have been re-founded after earlier versions became defunct. The dates below are mostly taken from the 1982 edition of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack:


 * Bedfordshire – 1899
 * Berkshire – 1895
 * Buckinghamshire – 1891
 * Cambridgeshire – 1844 to 1869; 1891
 * Carmarthenshire – 1908 to 1911
 * Cheshire – 1908
 * Cornwall – 1894
 * Cumberland (called Cumberland and Westmorland CCC until 1955) – 1948
 * Denbighshire – 1930 to 1935
 * Derbyshire – 1870
 * Devon – 1867 to 1897; 1899
 * Dorset – 1896
 * Durham – 1882
 * Essex – 1876
 * Glamorgan – 1888
 * Gloucestershire – 1871
 * Hampshire – 1863
 * Herefordshire – 1836 to unknown; 1992
 * Hertfordshire – 1876
 * Huntingdonshire – 1831 to 1895; 1948
 * Kent – 1842
 * Lancashire – 1864
 * Leicestershire – 1879
 * Lincolnshire – 1906
 * Middlesex – 1864
 * Monmouthshire – 1901 to 1934
 * Norfolk – 1827 to c.1850; 1876
 * Northamptonshire – 1878
 * Northumberland – 1895
 * Nottinghamshire – 1841
 * Oxfordshire – 1921
 * Shropshire – 1956
 * Somerset – 1875
 * Staffordshire – 1871
 * Suffolk – 1932
 * Surrey – 1845
 * Sussex – 1839
 * Wales Minor Counties – 1988
 * Warwickshire – 1882
 * Wiltshire – 1893
 * Worcestershire – 1865
 * Yorkshire – 1863