The purpose of this list is to identify historically significant English cricket clubs and teams which played in matches that had either important or first-class status. It concentrates on those which are now defunct or, if extant, not currently significant. Therefore, the list excludes County Championship clubs, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC), touring teams, and the main university clubs. Clubs in the Minor Counties Cricket Championship, or in one of the ECB Premier Leagues, are excluded unless they formerly played in important or first-class matches.
Some clubs which originally folded were subsequently refounded as modern league clubs. Many of the teams are combinations of recognised clubs or countiesâÂÂfor example, the combined Hampshire, Surrey & Sussex team in 1729. For the most part, ad hoc XIs (elevens) formed by individual patrons or organisers for one or a few matches are not included here; exceptions are the likes of C. I. Thornton's XI, H. D. G. Leveson Gower's XI, and T. N. Pearce's XI which became well-established over several seasons. The ad hoc XIs are listed at List of occasional English cricket XIs.
The total column gives the number of matches that the team is known (i.e., given that many early records have been lost) to have played in. In the source column, if only one citation is given, it relates to the earliest known mention of the team in the surviving records. The list is not necessarily exhaustive.
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