Northants Steelbacks

England

Founded

1878

Arena

County Ground Northampton · 7,000 cap

Northamptonshire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales and the current Natwest Blast champions. 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. 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 the team was elevated to senior status as an official first-class team. Northants has been classified as a List A team since the beginning of limited overs cricket in 1963; and as a senior Twenty20 team since 2003. The club plays the majority of its games at the County Cricket Ground, Northampton, but has used outlier grounds at Kettering, Wellingborough and Peterborough (formerly part of Northamptonshire, but now in 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 2015 season, Northamptonshire played in Division 2 of the LV= County Championship, Group A of the Royal London One Day Cup and the North division of the NatWest t20 Blast .

Durham Jets

England

Founded

1882

Arena

Riverside Ground · 15,000 cap

Durham 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 Durham. Since the 2014 season the Twenty20 team has been called the Durham Jets. Founded in 1882, Durham held minor status for over a century and was a prominent member of the Minor Counties Championship, winning the competition seven times. In 1992, the club joined the County Championship and the team was elevated to senior status as an official first-class team. Durham has been classified as an occasional List A team from 1964, then as a full List A team from 1992; and as a senior Twenty20 team since 2003. Durham CCC competes in the Specsavers County Championship, the Royal London One-Day Cup and in the North Group of the NatWest t20 Blast. They won the County Championship in 2008 for the first time, retained the trophy in the 2009 season, and then won it for a third time in 2013. In one-day competition, they won the 40-over Friends Provident Trophy in 2007 and the inaugural 50-over Royal London One-Day Cup in 2014. Having been relegated from Division One of the County Championship as part of the conditions for a package of financial support from the ECB, Durham will play in Division Two of the County Championship in the 2017 season. The club's limited overs kit colours are yellow and blue in the Royal London One-Day Cup, and red and black colours in the t20 Blast. Durham is currently sponsored by several companies including Emirates and Port of Tyne, as well as 188Bet as their betting partner. The team was sponsored by Northern Rock prior to the bank's nationalisation in 2008. The club is based at the Riverside Ground in Chester-le-Street, which is one of the newest additions to the English Test match circuit, hosting its first match – the second 2003 England v Zimbabwe Test – from 5 to 7 June.