First-class cricket

In the sport of cricket, a first-class match is between two teams of a high standard. The match must be planned to last for at least three days with the teams to have two innings each. Therefore, single innings limited overs matches lasting one day are not first-class, although they may involve teams which have first-class status.

The term "first-class" is usually applied to matches in national competitions like the County Championship, the Sheffield Shield, or the Ranji Trophy. Although Test matches are the highest standard of double innings cricket, they are also a form of first-class cricket. A player's first-class statistics include any performances in Test matches. For example, Gary Sobers had a highest score of 365 not out in his first-class career, and he did that in a Test innings against Pakistan in 1958.^[source?]

Even though a first-class match is set to last at least three days, it can be completed in one or two days. Also, while each team is allowed two innings, they might play only one, or none at all. If a match has to end early because of bad weather, the result is a draw, even if just one innings has been started. If all four innings have been completed, and the scores are level, the result is a tie. Also, a team can win a match "by an innings", which means they have scored more runs in their first (and only) innings than the other team has scored in two.^[source?]

History

Beginning of top-class cricket

The earliest known match that could be described as first-class took place on 30 June 1697 in Sussex. We know of it because of a short report in a newspaper called the Foreign Post dated Wednesday, 7 July 1697:^[1][2]

"The middle of last week (i.e., probably on Wednesday, 30 June 1697) a great match at cricket was played in Sussex; there were eleven of a side, and they played for fifty guineas apiece".

It is the earliest known eleven-a-side match.^[1] The high stakes on offer confirm its importance, and the fact that it was eleven-a-side suggests that two strong and well-balanced teams were playing.^[2] Throughout the 18th century, as newspaper reports became more common, it was usual for top-class matches to be described as "great" or a similar adjective. For example, the report of a match between England and Hampshire in 1777 says: "The Hambledon Club, out of 10 great matches they have played this year, have won 7, lost 2, and received forfeit of 1".^[3]

1864 to 1895

As far as is known, the term "first-class" began to be used somewhat loosely from around 1864, when overarm bowling was first allowed. In the first-ever issue of Cricket: A Weekly Record of the Game on 10 May 1882, the term is used twice on page 2. In a report about recent England matches in Australia, it says the first-class matches were "one against Sydney, two each against Victoria, the Combined team and the Australian Eleven, and another against South Australia.^[4] In the fourth issue on 1 June 1882, James Lillywhite gives a different list but also calls the matches first-class.^[5]

The term became official in 1895. That was the outcome of a May 1894 meeting at Lord's between representatives of Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the County Championship teams. There was no formal definition as such, but those teams became first-class from 1895 along with MCC, Cambridge University, Oxford University, senior touring teams—Australia and South Africa at that time—and other teams or matches considered first-class by MCC. Those included North v South, Gentlemen v Players, and occasional "elevens" which consisted of recognised first-class players.^[6] Officially, therefore, first-class cricket began with the opening game of the 1895 season between MCC and Nottinghamshire at Lord's on 1 and 2 May, MCC winning by 37 runs.^[7]

ICC definition

At a meeting of the Imperial Cricket Conference (ICC) in 1947, first-class cricket was formally defined on a global basis.

However, the ICC definition applied to future matches only. That left historians with the problem of how to classify earlier matches, especially those played in Great Britain before 1895. The solution put forward by the Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians (ACS) was to grant unofficial first-class status to high-quality matches played between 1864 and 1894.^[8] All pre-1864 matches of a high standard were classified as "important", although many of these had historical significance only and may not have been top-class actually.^[9]