Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called the Notts Outlaws.

The county club was founded in 1841, although teams had played first-class cricket under the Nottinghamshire name since 1835. The county club has always held first-class status. Nottinghamshire had competed in the County Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level elite domestic cricket competition in England.

The club plays most of its home games at the Trent Bridge cricket ground in West Bridgford, Nottingham, which is also a venue for Test matches. The club has played matches at numerous other venues in the county.

Nottingham Cricket Club is known to have played matches from 1771 onwards and 15 matches involving this side have been awarded first-class status since 1826. A single first-class match was played by a combined Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire side in 1803 but the first Nottinghamshire sides played in 1829. Eight matches played by this side between 1835 and 1840 have first-class status.

The formal creation of Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club was enacted in March or April of 1841 (the exact date has been lost). William Clarke established Trent Bridge as a cricket venue adjacent to the public house he ran. It was Clarke's successor as Nottinghamshire captain, George Parr, who first captained a united England touring team in 1859. The club elected its first president, Sir Henry Bromley, in 1869. Early professional greats such as Alfred Shaw and Arthur Shrewsbury ensured that Notts were a force in the period before 1900. Thanks largely to the outstanding bowling combination of Tom Wass and Albert Hallam, the county won the County Championship in 1907 when George Gunn, John Gunn and Wilfred Payton were also prominent.

Between the wars Notts enjoyed the services of the famous bowlers Harold Larwood and Bill Voce. Strong batting from George Gunn, Arthur Carr and Dodger Whysall saw them emerge as champions in 1929 after losing the title on the final day of the season in 1927. Prior to the second war, opening batsman Walter Keeton gained Test recognition, though the bowling was less effective.

Through the early fifties the team was weak. The signing of the Australian leg break bowler Bruce Dooland, arrested the decline but until the signing of the incomparable Garfield Sobers in 1968, the team was weak. Sobers hit Malcolm Nash of Glamorgan for six sixes in an over in a County Championship game at Swansea in his first season. Mike Harris scored heavily in the 1970s, including nine centuries in 1971 but apart from Barry Stead, the bowling lacked penetration.

Nottinghamshire enjoyed one of their strongest teams in the late seventies and early eighties when the New Zealand all-rounder Richard Hadlee, South African captain Clive Rice and England batsman Derek Randall led the team to the County Championship in 1981. The club's most successful season came in 1987, as Rice and Hadlee marked their departure with the double of County Championship and NatWest Trophy. Chris Broad and Tim Robinson continued the club's long tradition of batting excellence into the England team but for some years the club struggled to repeat those achievements, although they did claim a Benson & Hedges Cup in 1989 and a Sunday League title in 1991 under Robinson's captaincy. Former Warwickshire off spinner Eddie Hemmings made a significant contribution while local seam bowler Kevin Cooper was a consistent wicket taker.