Northamptonshire County Cricket Club

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Northamptonshire County Cricket Club

One Day name	Northants Steelbacks
Personnel
Captain	Luke Procter
One Day captain	David Willey (T20)
Coach	Darren Lehmann
Overseas player(s)	Matthew Breetzke
Team information
Founded	1878
Home ground	County Ground, Northampton
Capacity	6,500[1]
History
First-class debut	Hampshire in 1905 at Southampton
Twenty20 Cup wins	2
FP Trophy/NatWest Trophy wins	2
B&H Cup wins	1
Official website	[1]
First-class One-day T20

Northamptonshire 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 Northamptonshire. Its limited overs team is called the Northants Steelbacks – a reference to the Northamptonshire Regiment which was formed in 1881. The name was supposedly a tribute to the soldiers' apparent indifference to the harsh discipline imposed by their officers.^[2] Founded in 1878, Northamptonshire (Northants) held minor status at first but was a prominent member of the early Minor Counties Championship during the 1890s. In 1905, the club joined the County Championship and was elevated to first-class status, since when the team have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.^[3]

The club plays the majority of its games at the County Cricket Ground, Northampton, but has used outlier grounds at Kettering, Wellingborough, Rushden^[4] and Peterborough (historically part of Northamptonshire, but currently governed with Cambridgeshire) in the past. It has also used grounds outside the county for one-day games: for example, at Luton, Tring and Milton Keynes.

During the 2022 season, Northamptonshire played in Division One of the County Championship. They also played in the North Division of the Royal London One-Day Cup and the North Division of the T20 Blast.

Cricket had probably reached Northamptonshire by the end of the 17th century and the first two references to cricket in the county are within a few days of each other in 1741. On Monday 10 August, there was a match at Woburn Park between a Bedfordshire XI and a combined Northants and Huntingdonshire XI.^[5] Woburn Cricket Club under the leadership of the Duke of Bedford was on the point of becoming a well known club. On Tuesday 18 August, a match played on the Cow Meadow near Northampton between two teams of amateurs from Northamptonshire and Buckinghamshire is the earliest known instance of cricket being played in Northamptonshire county.

On 31 July 1878, the official formation of Northants CCC took place at a meeting in the George Hotel, Kettering based on an existing organisation that dated back to 1820. The 1820 date, if it could be verified, would make Northants the oldest club in the present-day County Championship. The club came to prominence in the Minor Counties Championship during the 1890s as, between 1900 and 1904, the bowling of George Thompson and William East was much too good for almost all batsmen at that level. The county applied for first-class status in 1904 and was promoted the following year when it joined the County Championship. They played its inaugural first-class match versus Hampshire CCC at Southampton on 18, 19 & 20 May 1905 when making its County Championship debut.

Although Thompson and East proved themselves to be bowlers of high class, a weak batting line-up meant that the team remained close to the bottom of the championship table until Sydney Smith arrived in 1909. After three years in the middle of the table, Northants surprisingly improved to finish second in 1912 and fourth in 1913. Thompson, Smith and William "Bumper" Wells formed one of the strongest attacks in county cricket at the time, whilst Smith and Haywood were the county's best batsmen.

Thompson and Smith finished playing after World War I and, during the inter-war period, Northamptonshire were regularly one of the weaker championship sides. This was exacerbated when Vallance Jupp declined due to age and, despite the arrival of Nobby Clark, a young left arm fast bowler from Huntingdonshire who burst onto the scene at the age of 20 in 1922 with 20 wickets at an average of 17.10 and Fred Bakewell, an exciting batsman who regularly exceeded 1000 runs a season, Northamptonshire could only finish above second from last four times between 1923 and 1948, finishing last every year from 1934 to 1938 and enduring a run of 99 matches from 14 May 1935 to 29 May 1939 without a single championship victory, a record that has never been beaten and doesn't look like being beaten in the future. Things got worse for Northamptonshire during this time when Bakewell's career ended due to a broken arm in a car crash that also resulted in the fatality of teammate, Reginald Northway.^[6]

After the Second World War, things could only get better for Northamptonshire and they started by recruiting widely from other counties and countries, bringing in Freddie Brown from Surrey; the Australians Jock Livingston, George Tribe and Jack Manning; the New Zealander Peter Arnold; and the Cambridge University opening bat and leg-spinner Raman Subba Row. Brown joined as captain in 1949, and led the team to six place in his first season after previous years of disappointment.^[7] Under the new leadership of Dennis Brookes (a stalwart batsman for over 20 years), finished second in 1957, their best finish for 45 years. This was mainly due to the bowling attack of Frank Tyson,^[8] Vincent Broderick, Michael Allen, George Tribe and Manning. Northamptonshire were widely considered the best team in England in the late 1950s and early 1960s, during this time Keith Andrew, Northants best ever Wicket-keeper broke the records of most victims in an innings and a season.

Subsequently, the club has seen mixed fortunes. The club has had intermittent success in one-day competitions, but it has still not won the County Championship, although second place was achieved in each of 1957, 1965 and 1976. Nonetheless, it has included several famous players qualified for England, including the South African-born batsman Allan Lamb; fast bowler David Larter; the hard hitting opener Colin Milburn, whose career was cut tragically short by an eye injury sustained in a car crash; the reliable batsmen David Steele and Rob Bailey; opening batsman Wayne Larkins; and all-rounders Peter Willey and David Capel.

Several notable overseas players such as Matthew Hayden, Curtly Ambrose, André Nel, Kapil Dev, Mike Hussey, Sarfraz Nawaz, Mushtaq Mohammad, Anil Kumble, Dennis Lillee and Bishen Bedi have starred for the club, which was particularly formidable as a one-day batting outfit in the late 1970s and early 1980s. More recently, Lance Klusener and Monty Panesar have been notable players.

Northants have recently been criticised for the number of Kolpak players in the team, but for the 2009 season there were only three in Andrew Hall, Johan van der Wath and Nicky Boje, and only one in 2013 in Hall.

Northamptonshire have played in the domestic T20 Blast competition since its inaugural season in 2003. They play as the Northants Steeelbacks, taking their nickname from the Northamptonshire Regiment.^[9]

Under the captaincy of Alex Wakely they first won the competition in 2013, defeating Surrey by 102 runs (D/L).^[10] This was the first white ball trophy won by the county since 1992. After finishing runners up to Lancashire in the 2015 edition,^[11] the Steelbacks once again won the competition in 2016, defeating Durham by 4 wickets.^[12]

• County Championship (1905-1999)

Runners-up (4): 1912, 1957, 1965, 1976

CC Division One (From 2000)

Best placing - 6th: 2022

CC Division Two (From 2000)

Winners (1) - 2000

Runners-up (3): 2003, 2013, 2019

• NatWest t20 Blast

Winners (2) – 2013, 2016

Runners-up (1): 2015

• National League/Pro40

Division One

Runners-up (1): 2006

Division Two

Runners-up (1): 1999

3rd place/promoted (1): 2003

• NatWest Trophy^{[notes 1]}

Winners (2) – 1976, 1992

Runners-up (5): 1979, 1981, 1987, 1990, 1995

• Benson and Hedges Cup

Winners (1) – 1980

Runners-up (2): 1987, 1996

• Minor Counties Championship

Winners (2) – 1903, 1904

Shared (2): 1899, 1900

• Second XI Championship

Winners (2) – 1960, 1998

• Second XI Trophy

Winners (2) – 1986, 1998

Team totals

Batting

Record partnership for each wicket

Bowling

Wicket-keeping

As with all county cricket clubs, Northamptonshire CCC represents the historic county and not any modern or current administrative unit. In Northamptonshire's case, this means the county of Northamptonshire and the Town of Northampton, although the club have in the past played some home matches outside the historic borders such as in Luton and Milton Keynes.

Northamptonshire first played at the county ground in Northampton in 1905, and continue to do so till this day even though Northampton Town F.C. shared the ground up until 1994 when the Cobblers moved to Sixfields Stadium. After the football club moved, the ground at the Abington Avenue was demolished and replaced by a new indoor school which includes seating looking on to the ground. In 2009, Northants cricket announced plans to improve the ground by building two new stands on the scoreboard side of the ground, there will also be a permanent commentary box with a view to have a 'mini Lord's' style media centre.

This following table gives details of every venue at which Northamptonshire have hosted a first-class, List A or Twenty20 cricket match:

• President: The Rt Hon. the Lord Naseby
• Chairman: Gavin Warren
• Chief Executive: Ray Payne
• Scorer: Terry Owen
• Head Groundsman: Craig Harvey

• Head coach: vacant
• Assistant coach: Rory Kleinveldt
• Academy director: Kevin Innes
• Batting Coach: Greg Smith
• Bowling Coach: Rory Kleinveldt
• Pathway Performance coach: Adil Arif
• 2nd XI & Fielding Coach: Graeme White
• Performance Cricket Coach: James Maby
• Head physiotherapist/Science
  & Medicine Lead Coach: Nick Allen
• Head Strength
  & Conditioning Coach: Chris Lorkin

The Northamptonshire squad for the 2023 season consists of (this section could change as players are released or signed):

• No. denotes the player's squad number, as worn on the back of their shirt.
• ‡ denotes players with international caps.
•  *  denotes a player who has been awarded a county cap.

No.	Name	Nationality	Birth date	Batting style	Bowling style	Notes
Batters
3	Matthew Breetzke ‡	South Africa	(1998-11-03) 3 November 1998 (age 26)	Right-handed	—	Overseas player
14	George Bartlett	England	(1998-03-14) 14 March 1998 (age 26)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
27	Ricardo Vasconcelos*	South Africa	(1997-10-27) 27 October 1997 (age 27)	Left-handed	—	Portuguese passport
75	Justin Broad ‡	Germany	(2000-06-30) 30 June 2000 (age 24)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
—	Arush Buchake	England	(2006-07-24) 24 July 2006 (age 18)	Right-handed	—
—	Krish Patel	England	(2005-12-02) 2 December 2005 (age 18)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break
—	Aadi Sharma	England	(2006-02-23) 23 February 2006 (age 18)	Right-handed	Right-arm leg break
All-rounders
2	Luke Procter*	England	(1988-06-24) 24 June 1988 (age 36)	Left-handed	Right-arm medium	Club captain
5	James Sales	England	(2003-02-11) 11 February 2003 (age 21)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
18	Saif Zaib	England	(1998-05-22) 22 May 1998 (age 26)	Left-handed	Slow left-arm orthodox
21	Rob Keogh*	England	(1991-10-21) 21 October 1991 (age 33)	Right-handed	Right-arm off break
23	David Willey* ‡	England	(1990-02-28) 28 February 1990 (age 34)	Left-handed	Left-arm fast-medium	Captain (T20)
24	Gus Miller	England	(2002-01-08) 8 January 2002 (age 22)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium
25	Ravi Bopara ‡	England	(1985-05-04) 4 May 1985 (age 39)	Right-handed	Right-arm medium	White ball contract
Wicket-keepers
15	Lewis McManus	England	(1994-10-09) 9 October 1994 (age 30)	Right-handed	—	Vice-captain (First-class/List A)
Bowlers
26	Ben Sanderson*	England	(1989-01-03) 3 January 1989 (age 35)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
80	Freddie Heldreich	England	(2001-09-12) 12 September 2001 (age 23)	Right-handed	Slow left-arm unorthodox
84	Raphael Weatherall	England	(2004-10-24) 24 October 2004 (age 20)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
98	George Scrimshaw ‡	England	(1998-02-10) 10 February 1998 (age 26)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast
—	Dom Leech	England	(2001-01-10) 10 January 2001 (age 23)	Right-handed	Right-arm fast-medium
—	Tiaan Louw	England	(2006-04-16) 16 April 2006 (age 18)	Left-handed	Left-arm fast-medium

This list is compiled of international cricketers who have played Test and/or ODI cricket. It also includes players who have been mentioned in the '100 Greats: Northamptonshire County Cricket Club' book.^[22] Therefore, making them notable to the county and international cricket scene.

A complete list of officially appointed Northamptonshire captains can be found here: List of Northamptonshire cricket captains.

Notable captains:

This list of "famous" or "notable" people has no clear inclusion or exclusion criteria. Please help improve this article by defining clear inclusion criteria to contain only subjects that fit those criteria. (August 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message)

• Freddie Brown (1949–1953)
• Dennis Brookes (1954–1957)
• Raman Subba Row (1958–1961)
• Keith Andrew (1962–1966)
• Mushtaq Mohammad (1976–1977)
• Allan Lamb (1989–1995)
• Matthew Hayden (1999–2000)
• Mike Hussey (2002–2003)
• Will Young (2022)

Northamptonshire do not automatically award caps to players on their first appearance; instead, they have to be 'earned' through good performances. In recent times, cricketers who are awarded a county cap are given a new cap with yellow stripes on the maroon instead of a plain maroon cap. The following players have received caps:

• Radd, Andrew (February 2001). 100 Greats: Northamptonshire County Cricket Club. Northampton: Tempus Publishing Limited. ISBN 0-7524-2195-6.

• H S Altham, A History of Cricket, Volume 1 (to 1914), George Allen & Unwin, 1962
• Derek Birley, A Social History of English Cricket, Aurum, 1999
• Rowland Bowen, Cricket: A History of its Growth and Development, Eyre & Spottiswoode, 1970
• Matthew Engel and Andrew Radd, The History of Northamptonshire CCC (County Cricket History), Christopher Helm Publishers Ltd, 1993, ISBN 978-0-7136-8024-9
• H T Waghorn, Cricket Scores, Notes, etc. (1730–1773), Blackwood, 1899
• Roy Webber, The Playfair Book of Cricket Records, Playfair Books, 1951
• Playfair Cricket Annual – various editions
• Wisden Cricketers' Almanack – various editions

• Official website
• BBC Sport Archived 11 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine
• Sky Sports
• Cricinfo
• ECB