Lancashire

Lancashire County Cricket Club were founded in 1864 and take part in the County Championship in England. They are one of the most successful counties in history with nine top flight titles to their name.

The Red Rose county play the majority of their home games at Old Trafford in Manchester, although they do also feature in some four-day games in Liverpool and Blackpool.

When the club were formed in 1864 they were a replacement for the Manchester Cricket Club. They played their opening first-class game against Middlesex in 1865 and beat their opponents to make a winning start.

Lancashire were one of the founding members of the County Championship in 1889 and took part in the first Championship in 1890 along with seven other counties. After a seven-year wait, their first title arrived in 1897. They also sealed the crown in 1904.

In 1895 Archie MacLaren made history when representing Lancashire by scoring 424 runs in an innings in the competition. That still remains the highest score by an Englishman in first-class cricket.

Between 1909 and 1936 Ernest Tyldesley excelled with the bat with the Old Trafford based team by scoring 34,222 runs in 573 games. The Worsley-born man is still their leading run scorer and was a key component in them winning the County Championship on five occasions between 1926 and 1934, one of the golden periods in their history.

Since then, though, they have got their hands on the trophy just twice. In 1950 they shared the title with Surrey, while 51 years later in 2011 they won the competition for a ninth time.

Brian Statham made his debut for Lancashire in 1950 and soon became a firm fans' favourite as the fast bowler took 1,816 wickets before his retirement in 1968.

Although following 1950 they did not have much success in the County Championship, Lancashire did excel in one-day competitions. 

They won back-to-back Sunday League crowns in 1969 and 1970, while between 1970 and 1975 the Gillette Cup was lifted by them on four occasions.

Four Benson & Hedges Cups followed in the 1980s and early 1990s, while more recently in 1998 and 1999 they won the Sunday League once again.

In 2012 the Red Rose county were relegated into the County Championship Second Division but they returned the following year as winners of the second tier.

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