Origin played for Lancashire between 1879 and 1900 and is the only player to have scored 10,000 runs and taken 1,000 wickets for the club in first-class cricket On 12 January 1864, Manchester Cricket Club organised a meeting at the Queen's Hotel in Manchester for the purpose of forming a club to represent the county. Thirteen local clubs were represented: Broughton, Longsight, Manchester and Western from the Manchester area; Huyton, Liverpool and Northern from Merseyside; Accrington, Ashton, Blackburn, Oldham, Whalley and Wigan from other towns. Lancashire County Cricket Club was founded with the object of, it was said, "spreading a thorough knowledge and appreciation of the game throughout Lancashire". The new county club played its first-ever official game at Warrington against Birkenhead Park on Wednesday, 15 June 1864 but that was not a first-class match. The first inter-county match, which was first-class, was played in 1865 at
Old Trafford against
Middlesex; Lancashire won the match by 62
runs, although Middlesex's
V. E. Walker took all ten wickets in Lancashire's second innings.
Early successes The early Lancashire team was reliant upon amateurs, which led to problems; although they were happy to play at Old Trafford, they were less willing to travel to away fixtures. During the early 1870s, the team was dominated by
A. N. Hornby’s batting. The team's standard of cricket improved with the arrival of two professional players,
Dick Barlow and
Alex Watson. The impact of Barlow and Hornby was such that their batting partnership was immortalised in the poem
At Lord’s by
Francis Thompson. The team was further enhanced by
A. G. Steel, an amateur sometimes considered second only to
W. G. Grace as the country's best all rounder;
Johnny Briggs, a professional from
Sutton-in-Ashfield and the only player to score 10,000 runs and take 1,000 wickets for Lancashire; and
wicket-keeper Dick Pilling, who in 1891 was rated by ''
Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'' as the second-best wicket-keeper in the world behind
Jack Blackham. As Lancashire's consistency improved, so did their support: in 1878, 28,000 over three days watched Lancashire play
Gloucestershire. The club's first success came in 1879, when the majority of the cricket press – except for Wisden – agreed that Lancashire and
Nottinghamshire were joint champions. Lancashire was the champion county in 1881 and again shared the title with Nottinghamshire in 1882. Barlow and his longtime opening partner Hornby are the opening batsmen immortalised in the famous poem by
Francis Thompson. In 1884, Old Trafford became the second ground, after
The Oval, to stage a
Test match in England. Though it rained on the first day, 12,000 spectators attended on the second; the match between England and
Australia resulted in a draw. Controversy emerged during the 1880s;
Kent and
Nottinghamshire objected to the bowling actions of
John Crossland and George Nash. Nottinghamshire even went as far as refusing to play against Lancashire. Although the 1880s was a period of controversy and modest results for the club, it was also a time in which some club records were established. In 1885
George Kemp (later 1st Baron Rochdale) scored Lancashire's first century in a Roses Match. In that same year Johnny Briggs and Dick Pilling set a first-class record partnership for the tenth wicket of 173 that stood until
1899 and has not been bettered by Lancashire. The team was runner up in 1890 and 1891.
Archie MacLaren was appointed captain in 1894, four years after making his debut whilst still captain of
Harrow. In 1895 MacLaren made his record-breaking innings of 424 against
Somerset at
Taunton; his innings remained the highest
first-class score for an Englishman, was the first first-class quadruple century, and was the highest score in first-class cricket until
Bill Ponsford scored 429 in February 1923. Again, Lancashire was runner up in 1895, despite
Arthur Mold taking 192 wickets in the season, a feat bettered only twice for the club. The current pavilion was constructed in 1895 and cost £10,000 (£ in ); it replaced the earlier pavilion, dating from 1857 when Old Trafford was originally built. Lancashire's steady progress was capped by a hat trick of championship titles between 1926 and 1928 under the captaincy of
Leonard Green. In the 1926 victory, Ernest Tyldesley and
Harry Makepeace each scored over 2,000 runs. In 1927,
Charlie Hallows scored six centuries and the bowling attack was led by
Dick Tyldesley and
Ted McDonald with support from Frank Sibbles. In 1928,
Frank Watson and Ernest Tyldesley scored over 2,000 runs each and
George Duckworth claimed 107 victims and earned recognition as one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year. At the end of the season Leonard Green decided to retire with a record of three successive championships and 42 wins against just three defeats. Under the captaincy of
Peter Eckersley, Lancashire finished second in the championship in 1929 and reclaimed the title in 1930, with ten victories and no defeats that season. After four titles in five seasons, the early 1930s saw a number of retirements including McDonald and Dick Tyldesley in 1931 and Ernest Tyldesley in 1935: no Lancashire batsman has matched Tyldesley's 100 centuries in first-class cricket. Lancashire won the championship outright for the last time in 1934, the same year that
Len Hopwood performed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets (a feat he repeated in 1935) and
Cyril Washbrook began to work his way into the team. The captain, Peter Eckersley, retired in 1935 to become an MP. The later half of the 1930s was a period of rebuilding up until the war, with the opening partnership of Cyril Washbrook and
Eddie Paynter the highlight.
Post-war When play began in 1946, after
World War II, things started badly for Lancashire when the captain and veteran player,
Jack Iddon, was killed in a car accident just before the start of the season.
Jack Fallows stood in as captain for the season. His successor,
Ken Cranston, was an unusual choice as he had no prior first-class experience; despite this his captaincy was not unsuccessful as Lancashire finished third and fifth during his two years in charge. In 1947 Cyril Washbrook and
Winston Place both scored over 2,500 runs and scored 19 centuries between them. Washbrook's benefit took place in August 1948 and was watched by 50,000 people; he received £14,000 (£ in ), beating the previous record by over £10,000. Despite finishing 11th in 1949, in 1950 – under the captaincy of
Nigel Howard – Lancashire shared the county championship with
Surrey, winning 16 matches;
Roy Tattersall and
Malcolm Hilton claimed nearly 300 wickets between them. The 1950 season marked the emergence of
Brian Statham. In the following three seasons, Lancashire finished third each time. With the retirement of Nigel Howard in 1954, Lancashire appointed its first professional captain, Cyril Washbrook, who would captain the club for the next six years. In 1954
Geoff Pullar,
Ken Grieves and
Alan Wharton all scored over 2,000 runs, whilst Brian Statham,
Ken Higgs and
Tommy Greenhough all took over 100 wickets; despite this, Lancashire managed to finish only 5th. Lancashire came close to reclaiming the county championship in 1960 under a new captain,
Bob Barber. Five batsmen scored more than 1,000 runs in the season, and Statham, Higgs and Greenhough all took over 100 wickets; Lancashire finished runner up due to a poor run of form towards the end of the season: losing four and drawing two of the last six matches after topping the table in August. The following year, however, Lancashire dropped to 13th, due in part to Barber's inexperience and Statham's and Geoff Pullar's England commitments. Things declined further in 1962, under the leadership of
Joe Blackledge, who had had no previous first-class experience, as Lancashire dropped to second last, winning only two matches. After a period of unrest, Brian Statham was appointed captain between 1965 and 1967 and Lancashire's results improved. Statham retired in 1968 with 1,816 first-class wickets, a record for the club.
Limited-overs success Jack Bond became Lancashire captain in 1968 and remained in the position until 1972. During his tenure, Lancashire performed well in the championship, finishing third in 1970 and 1971. His biggest triumph as captain was the five one day trophies he secured during his five-year captaincy.
Farokh Engineer joined Lancashire in 1968, and
Clive Lloyd joined in 1969; together Lloyd and Engineer helped establish Lancashire as one of the best one day teams in England. The silverware included a hat-trick of
Gillette Cups (1970–72) and the
Sunday League twice in successive seasons (1969–1970). Mainstays of the successful one day team included Clive Lloyd,
David Lloyd,
Barry Wood,
Harry Pilling,
Frank Hayes,
Peter Lever,
Ken Shuttleworth,
David Hughes and
Jack Simmons. In the Gillette Cup semi-final against
Gloucestershire in 1971, David Hughes walked to the crease at 8.45pm and hit 24 from an over in near darkness to win the match. David Lloyd was captain from 1973 to 1977 and secured Lancashire's fourth Gillette Cup in 1975, and coming runners up in 1974 and 1976. However, in the late 1970s, the team that had been so dominant in the one day format began to break up. Despite boasting international players such as Lloyd and Engineer, Lancashire's first-class performances never matched the success of the limited overs team. It wasn't until 1984, under the captaincy of
John Abrahams, that the club won more silverware, this time in the Benson & Hedges Cup. Despite a resurgence in limited overs matches, Lancashire finished in the bottom six of the county championship. After suffering defeat in the final of the 1986 Nat West Trophy, David Hughes was appointed captain. Towards the end of the 1980s, Lancashire's team began to develop, with
Graeme Fowler and
Gehan Mendis building a productive opening partnership, while David Hughes and
Neil Fairbrother provided support in the middle order. The bowlers were led by
Patrick Patterson and
Paul Allott with support from David Hughes,
Mike Watkinson and Jack Simmons. In 1987 after eleven successive years in the bottom six, Lancashire finished second in the championship, their highest position in 27 years.
Mike Atherton made his Lancashire debut in 1987 – scoring 600 runs in the second half of the season – and
Wasim Akram first played for the team in 1988. Lancashire defeated Worcestershire in the final of the Refuge Cup in 1988. The following year the club won the Sunday League on the last day of the season in 1989 and finished fourth in the championship. At the age of 48, in 1989 Jack Simmons retired after having taken 985 first-class wickets for the county. 1999 was an eventful year for Lancashire with the debut of
Muttiah Muralitharan, the departure of coach
Dav Whatmore after just two years with the club and again the team finished second in the championship and won the National League.
New century The team that had been so successful in the 1990s began to break up at the start of the 2000s. Since winning their last trophy in 1998, the team has lost eight semi-finals and two finals. and Stuart Law and Alec Swann both scored over 1,000 first-class runs and Peter Martin and
Glen Chapple both took more than 50 wickets; the find of the season was that of
James Anderson, who burst onto the scene with 50 wickets in the second half of the season, earning him a promotion to the England team. At the end of the season, Lancashire stalwarts Neil Fairbrother and
Graham Lloyd retired. 2003 was a promising year, and Lancashire were genuine contenders for the county championship.
Mark Chilton,
Carl Hooper and
Mal Loye all scored over 1,000 runs and
Stuart Law was player of the year with 1,820 runs. Altogether, 28 championship centuries were scored for Lancashire, the second highest total in a season for the club.
Gary Keedy was lead wicket taker with 60 wickets, supported by Martin and Chapple who took 41 and 49 respectively. They were promoted from the second division of the National League, lost in the semi-final of the C&G Trophy, and finished second in the county championship. In 2004, Lancashire were relegated to the second division of the County Championship for the first time since the competition was restructured into two divisions. This was despite starting the season as the bookmarkers' favourite to win the competition. At one point in the season, the team was without eight bowlers, with
James Anderson,
Andrew Flintoff, and
Sajid Mahmood on international duty, while Glen Chapple,
Dominic Cork,
Kyle Hogg,
Peter Martin, and all-rounder
Carl Hooper were all injured. Their problems were not blamed solely on the injuries, Watkinson said "quite simply the opposition have done the basics better than us. In addition we've one or two who are out of form on top of the injury list which ripped us to pieces". Despite being relegated in the County Championship, the team managed finish as runners up in the National League and were expected to be promoted back to the first division of first-class cricket in the 2005 season. While Watkinson expected backlash from the fans, he said that "they were tremendously understanding about the injury situation". Between 1864 and 2004, Lancashire played 2,790 matches, winning 1,034, losing 583, drawing 1,170, with three tied matches. In this period, no other team had drawn more matches. The team's percentage of wins was 37.06%, third behind Yorkshire (44.05%) and Surrey (39.74%). Lancashire were promoted back to the first division of the county championship in 2005, winning the second division title in the process. They stayed up in the National League, progressed to the finals' day of the Twenty20 Cup and were knocked out in the semi-final of the C&G Trophy. Despite winning the second division title, there were concerns that the squad may have been getting too old and that there were limited opportunities for the younger players. Of Lancashire's performance over the season, Watkinson said "I was not happy about our batting and, although we have achieved what we set out to do – get promoted – our performance left a lot to be desired". Lancashire are one of three teams, along with Middlesex and Surrey, never to have finished bottom in the County Championship. In 2007, although they led the table before the final round of matches, Lancashire were again runners-up in the County Championship. After being knocked out of the Twenty20 competition in the group states and performing poorly in the other one-day competitions early in the season, supporters started to become discontented with the captain and coach. After the match against Surrey, Chilton was in tears and said "I'm extremely proud of what our guys have achieved though. As captain I'm privileged to have seen the efforts they have put in. To get close to our target was a phenomenal effort but the lads are just broken. Our players have risen to an almighty challenge and to come so close is an enormous effort". However his captaincy lasted for just one season, and Lancashire again failed to claim any silverware. At the end of the season Law and veteran player Cork were released, with Chapple replacing Law as captain. In December 2008, Watkinson's job as cricket manager was changed to that of director of cricket – a job which would focus solely on aspects of cricket, rather than the traditional all-encompassing job of general team management. The move was explained by the club chairman as an effort to modernise. In 2011 Chapple and Moores took Lancashire to their first outright first-class county championship title since 1934, although they had shared the title with Surrey in 1950. Despite being reigning champions in 2012, Lancashire had a poor season and were relegated to the Second Division. In 2013 they bounced straight back to Division 1 by winning the second division championship with a game to spare. They were once again relegated to Division 2 on the last day of the 2014 season after failing to win a tightly fought game against Middlesex. Ashley Giles (formerly of Warwickshire and England) was appointed as Director of Cricket and Head Coach after Mike Watkinson stepped down from the role in October 2014. Lancashire gained immediate promotion in 2015, finishing as Division Two runners-up behind Surrey, and enjoyed the bonus of winning the T20 Cup for the first time. They were well served that season by overseas players Kyle Jarvis and Ashwell Prince. They finished seventh in 2016 and then improved to finish second in 2017, though they were a long way behind the runaway winners Essex. The team struggled in 2018 and were relegated. In 2019, the team went unbeaten in Division 2 to comfortably win promotion back up to Division 1. On 30 March 2020, the chairman of the club
David Hodgkiss died at the age of 71 due to
coronavirus disease 2019 complications during the
coronavirus pandemic. am On 10 May 2024, it was announced that
The King, as
Duke of Lancaster, had agreed to become the club's patron, taking over from the previous Duke,
Queen Elizabeth II. ==Ground==