Kent county cricket teams the concept of a Champion County was much older. Kent was duly proclaimed "Champion County" in 1837 and through most of the 1840s. Mainstays of the Kent team in those years included Alfred Mynn, Fuller Pilch, Nicholas Wanostrocht "aka" "Felix", Ned Wenman and William Hillyer. On 6 August 1842, formation of the original Kent County Cricket Club took place in Canterbury. The new club played its initial first-class match against All-England at White Hart Field in Bromley on 25–27 August 1842. On 1 March 1859 a second county club was established in Maidstone to support the Canterbury club. The two
Old County Ground a Kent side in 1836, attracting up to 6,000 spectators. Pilch played for Town Malling in this match but otherwise played in the Kent side, having qualified by residence, including the three against England sides. The first of these was a benefit match for Pilch and saw Kent defeat England by two runs. Despite Selby and Norton's ambitions, Town Malling proved to be too small to support a formally organised county club and Kent County Cricket Club was formed from the Beverley club in Canterbury during the 1842 Canterbury Cricket Week. Pilch moved to the new Kent club to play