Cricket must have reached Hertfordshire by the end of the 17th century. The earliest reference to cricket in the county is dated 1732 and is also the earliest reference to Essex as a county team. On Thursday, 6 July 1732, a team called Essex & Hertfordshire played London Cricket Club in a first-class match at Epping Forest "for £50 a side". The result is unknown.^[1]^[2]

Hertfordshire has not usually been considered a first-class county but its teams did appear frequently throughout the eighteenth century and played in some matches classified as first-class. There was a county organisation of sorts in 1838 and the present Hertfordshire County Cricket Club was founded on 8 March 1876. It joined the Minor Counties Championship for the very first season, 1895, and is the only one of the seven competing sides from that season to have maintained membership continuously ever since.^[3]

References

Bibliography

ACS (1981). A Guide to Important Cricket Matches Played in the British Isles 1709 – 1863. Nottingham: ACS.
Barclays (1986). Swanton, E. W. (ed.). Barclays World of Cricket. Willow Books. ISBN 0-00-218193-2.
Birley, Derek (1999). A Social History of English Cricket. Aurum. ISBN 1-85410-710-0.
Bowen, Rowland (1970). Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development. Eyre & Spottiswoode.
Britcher, Samuel (1790). A list of all the principal Matches of Cricket that have been played (1790 to 1805). MCC.
Buckley, G. B. (1935). Fresh Light on 18th Century Cricket. Cotterell.
Buckley, G. B. (1937). Fresh Light on pre-Victorian Cricket. Cotterell.
Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 1 (1744–1826). Lillywhite.
Haygarth, Arthur (1862). Scores & Biographies, Volume 2 (1827–1840). Lillywhite.
Waghorn, H. T. (1899). Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773). Blackwood.
Waghorn, H. T. (1906). The Dawn of Cricket. Electric Press.
Warner, Pelham (1946). Lord's 1787–1945. Harrap.
Wilson, Martin (2005). An Index to Waghorn. Bodyline.

English cricket teams in the 18th century

England