Hampshire

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. County Championship 1961, 1973