The earliest reference to cricket in the county of Nottinghamshire is a match between Nottingham and Sheffield Cricket Club at the Forest Racecourse in Nottingham in August 1771. In many sources, the Nottingham team is called the "Nottingham Old Club" or as the "town club" to distinguish it from Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club, which began playing in the 1840s. Nottinghamshire as a county team played its first inter-county match versus Sussex at Brown's Ground in Brighton in August 1835, with early matches probably being organised by the town club.