About

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 .