Kent Spitfires

England

Founded

1842

Arena

St Lawrence Ground · 7,000 cap

Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. The club was first founded in 1842 but teams representing the county have played top-class cricket since the early 18th century. Kent have competed in the County Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. The club's limited overs team is called the Kent Spitfires after the Supermarine Spitfire. The club plays most of its home matches at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, which hosts Canterbury Cricket Week, the oldest cricket festival in England. It also plays some home matches at the County Cricket Ground, Beckenham and the Nevill Ground, Royal Tunbridge Wells where they host Tunbridge Wells Cricket Week. Kent also field a women's team in the Women's County Championship. The team has won the Championship a record seven times, most recently in 2016, and the Women's T20 title three times, most recently also in 2016. It has traditionally played matches at the Polo Farm in Canterbury, but as of 2016 has moved to be based mainly at Beckenham.

Hampshire t20

England

Founded

1863

Arena

Rose Bowl · 16,500 cap

Hampshire 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 Hampshire. Hampshire teams formed by earlier organisations, principally the Hambledon Club, always had important match status and so the county club was rated accordingly from its inception in 1863 until 1885. Because of poor performances for several seasons, Hampshire then lost its status for nine seasons until it was invited into the County Championship in 1895. Hampshire is classified as an official first-class team from 1895 by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the County Championship clubs; classified as a List A team since the beginning of limited overs cricket in 1963; and classified as a senior Twenty20 team since 2003. The club was founded in 1863 and played at the Antelope Ground, Southampton until 1885. They relocated to the County Ground, Southampton until 2000, before moving to the purpose-built Rose Bowl in West End, which is in the Borough of Eastleigh. Hampshire played its first important match in 1864, losing to Sussex at the Antelope Ground. Hampshire had poor results for many seasons and lost its important match status in 1885. They achieved official first-class status in 1895 when they were invited to join the County Championship. The club has twice won the County Championship, in the 1961 and 1973 seasons. Hampshire played their first one-day match in the 1963 Gillette Cup, but did not win their first one-day silverware until 1975 when they won the Sunday League which it won twice more, in 1978 and 1986. It has twice won the Benson & Hedges Cup, in 1988 and 1991; the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy once in 2005 and the Friends Provident Trophy once in 2009. Having first played Twenty20 cricket in 2003, Hampshire won the Friends Provident t20 in 2010. The County Championship was restructured in 2000, and at the end of the 2002 Hampshire was relegated for the first time. The club remained in the second division for three seasons and since 2004 had competed in the top tier. However, the club was relegated once more in 2011. The club won both the Friends Life t20 and ECB 40 in 2012, but it wasn't until 2014 before they were promoted to the first division again. They narrowly avoided relegation in 2015 before being relegated again in 2016, only to be reprieved after Durham were relegated after taking ECB sanctions to secure their future. Phil Mead is the club's leading run-scorer with 48,892 runs in 700 matches for Hampshire between 1905 and 1936. Fast bowler Derek Shackleton took 2,669 wickets in 583 first-class matches between 1948 and 1969 which remains a club record. Alec Kennedy, whose career lasted from 1907 to 1936, was the first player to score 10,000 runs and take 1,000 wickets for Hampshire. Colin Ingleby-Mackenzie was both Hampshire last amateur captain and first professional captain.