Gloucestershire County Cricket Club League in 2000. Cricket probably reached Gloucestershire by the end of the 17th century. It is known that the related sport of "Stow-Ball" "aka" "Stob-Ball" was played in the county during the 16th century. In this game, the bat was called a "stave". See Alice B Gomme : "The Traditional Games of England, Scotland and Ireland". A game in Gloucester on 22 September 1729 is the earliest definite reference to cricket in the county. From then until the founding of the county club, very little has been found outside parish cricket. In the early 1840s, Dr Henry Grace and his
Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club to cricket in the county is the Nottingham Cricket Club v Sheffield Cricket Club match on the Forest Racecourse at Nottingham on Monday 26 and Tuesday 27 August 1771. The outcome of the game was "not determined on account of a dispute having arisen by one of the Sheffield players being jostled"! The match is the first important inter-county match involving teams from either Nottinghamshire or Yorkshire. This match involved the old Nottingham town club which continued to play important matches into the 19th century. Nottinghamshire as a county team, played its first inter-county match versus Sussex at Brown's Ground,