# Warwickshire County Cricket Club
**Warwickshire County Cricket Club** is one of the eighteen first-class county cricket clubs of [England and Wales](https://www.edgepedia.org/england-and-wales), founded on 8 April 1882 at a meeting in The Regent Hotel, Leamington Spa, and based since 1885 at [Edgbaston Stadium](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgbaston-cricket-ground) in Birmingham, where it is known as the Bears.[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) • [2](https://www.edgbaston.com/warwickshire-ccc/home) The club has won the [County Championship](https://www.edgepedia.org/county-championship) nine times, most recently in 2026.[3](https://www.edgbaston.com/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Founded | 8 April 1882, The Regent Hotel, Leamington Spa[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) |
| Home ground | Edgbaston Stadium, Birmingham, since 1885; 12 acres leased from the Calthorpe Estate at £5 per acre over 21 years[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) |
| First Test at the ground | 1902, against Australia; England bowled Australia out for 36 but rain forced a draw[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) |
| County Championship titles | Nine: 1911, 1951, 1972, 1994, 1995, 2004, 2012, 2021, 2026[3](https://www.edgbaston.com/) |
| One-day honors | Five Royal London One-Day Cups (1980, 1994, 1997, 2010, 2016) and one NatWest t20 Blast (2014)[4](https://www.dafapartnership.com/teams/warwickshire-ccc/) |
| Innovation | UK's first competitive floodlit day-night match (1997) and first day-night Test (2017)[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) |
| 2025 finances | Revenue £40.4m, up 61% on 2024's £25.1m; pre-tax profit £11.8m[5](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c1mk2prk7n5o) |
## Foundation and early years
Cricket had been played in [Warwickshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/warwickshire) long before the club existed; the earliest record of the game in the county dates to 1751 at the Holte Bridgman's ground at the Apollo in Aston.[6](https://www.edgbaston.com/media-article/140-years-of-edgbaston-stadium) In March 1882, five men met at the Regent Hotel in [Leamington Spa](https://www.edgepedia.org/leamington-spa): David Buchanan, soon to be the club's first captain, M.P. Lucas, Rev G. Cuffe, Col. W. Swynfen Jervis, and William Ansell.[6](https://www.edgbaston.com/media-article/140-years-of-edgbaston-stadium) A further meeting at the Queen's Hotel in Coventry that April formally established the club committee, with Ansell in charge for the next twenty years.[6](https://www.edgbaston.com/media-article/140-years-of-edgbaston-stadium) Ansell believed cricket in the county was by 1880 "plodding along in the old style", with self-selected teams ignoring Birmingham's large population.[6](https://www.edgbaston.com/media-article/140-years-of-edgbaston-stadium)
**Lord Willoughby de Broke** was the club's first president and played in several early fixtures, including three of five matches in 1883, scoring 14 runs.[7](https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/warwickshire-county-cricket-club) The early club was nomadic and achieved neither sporting nor commercial success; a proposal for a fixed home was rejected in 1884, but in 1885 the club resolved to build a ground in Edgbaston, with Lord Willoughby de Broke proposing the motion.[7](https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/warwickshire-county-cricket-club)
## Edgbaston
In search of a permanent home, the club considered Rugby and Leamington Spa, but secretary William Ansell pushed for [Birmingham](https://www.edgepedia.org/birmingham) because of its large population.[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) Aston Lower Grounds and sites in Aston and Balsall Heath were examined, but terms were usually too high, and the Aston ground had complaints about its wicket.[6](https://www.edgbaston.com/media-article/140-years-of-edgbaston-stadium) The Calthorpe Estate offered 12 acres of rough grazing meadowland on the banks of the River Rea in the newly developed manor of Edgbaston, and in 1885 the club agreed a lease at £5 per acre over a 21-year period.[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) The land was the founding committee's second choice, but it was considered better placed for the club's long-term ambitions.[8](https://www.edgbaston.com/media-article/warwickshire-bears-behind-county-lines-2) The main part of the ground was acquired freehold from the Calthorpe Estate in 1886.[9](https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/1017/warwickshire_county_cricket_club_edgbaston_planning_framework_part_1.pdf)
Ansell envisaged first-class status for the county and Test status for the ground; by 1902 both had been achieved.[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) The first first-class match at Edgbaston was against Kent in 1894, and the ground was recognized as suitable for Test matches in 1902.[9](https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/1017/warwickshire_county_cricket_club_edgbaston_planning_framework_part_1.pdf) For the first Test, against Australia in 1902, the club erected a permanent stand and brought two temporary stands across from [Villa Park](https://www.edgepedia.org/villa-park); England bowled Australia out for 36 in the first innings, but rain ended the match in a draw.[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) Test matches were played at the ground until 1928 and then from 1957 onward.[9](https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/1017/warwickshire_county_cricket_club_edgbaston_planning_framework_part_1.pdf)
## On-field record
By the first County Championship season in 1890, Warwickshire was playing leading counties such as Surrey and [Yorkshire](https://www.edgepedia.org/yorkshire). Its first Championship title came in 1911, when Frank Foster and Frank Field combined for 238 wickets that season.[4](https://www.dafapartnership.com/teams/warwickshire-ccc/) The club's strongest period ran from 1993 to 1997, spearheaded by Dermot Reeve, Brian Lara, and [Allan Donald](https://www.edgepedia.org/allan-donald), with back-to-back Championships in 1994 and 1995 and a treble including the Sunday League and Benson & Hedges Cup.[4](https://www.dafapartnership.com/teams/warwickshire-ccc/) In 1994 Lara scored 501 not out for Warwickshire, and the club's honors also include five Royal London One-Day Cups and the 2014 NatWest t20 Blast.[10](https://offtothecricket.co.uk/grounds/edgbaston/history/) • [4](https://www.dafapartnership.com/teams/warwickshire-ccc/)
**The 2026 title.** Warwickshire won the 2026 Rothesay County Championship, its ninth title and first since 2021, defeating [Leicestershire](https://www.edgepedia.org/leicestershire) by an innings and 79 runs at Edgbaston inside three days.[11](https://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/13592028/warwickshire-defeat-leicestershire-at-edgbaston-to-win-county-championship-and-claim-first-title-in-five-years) Ed Barnard, appointed all-format captain two weeks before the campaign, led the side, and Ethan Bamber finished the season as the league's leading wicket-taker, taking the final wicket of the campaign.[12](https://www.edgbaston.com/media-article/barnard-delighted-as-bears-lift-county-championship-trophy) The club's bowlers took 41 of a possible 42 bonus points, and the title pursuit produced record County Championship attendances at Edgbaston.[3](https://www.edgbaston.com/)
## Notable matches at Edgbaston
The ground has staged several landmark fixtures. In 1973 it hosted the inaugural Women's World Cup final, in which England beat Australia by 92 runs.[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) The 2005 Ashes Test there ended with England beating Australia by only two runs.[4](https://www.dafapartnership.com/teams/warwickshire-ccc/) In 1997 Edgbaston hosted the UK's first competitive floodlit day-night match, the Bears beating Somerset by 35 runs before 16,000 spectators, and in 2017 it staged the UK's first day-night Test, in which England defeated the [West Indies](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-indies) by an innings and 209 runs.[1](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history) Record capacities at the ground were 28,000 for a County Championship match against [Lancashire](https://www.edgepedia.org/lancashire) in 1951 and 32,000 for a single day of the 1957 Test against the West Indies.[9](https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/1017/warwickshire_county_cricket_club_edgbaston_planning_framework_part_1.pdf)
## Recent developments
In 2025 the club reported a 61% rise in income to £40.4m, with expenditure up 58% to £28.5m and a pre-tax profit of £11.8m. That same year, as the England and Wales Cricket Board restructured The Hundred, Warwickshire acquired a 51% majority holding in Birmingham Phoenix, worth £48m, backed the move to make the Bears women's team fully professional, and pressed on with redeveloping the Raglan and Priory stands and with building a hotel at Edgbaston slated to open in 2027.[5](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c1mk2prk7n5o) In 2026 the club announced that Bamber, the Championship's leading wicket-taker, had signed a new deal, and Stuart Brereton was elected Chair of the Members' Committee.[3](https://www.edgbaston.com/)
## References
1. [Our History, Edgbaston](https://www.edgbaston.com/our-history)
2. [Warwickshire | Edgbaston](https://www.edgbaston.com/warwickshire-ccc/home)
3. [Edgbaston | Home of Warwickshire CCC, Bears & Phoenix](https://www.edgbaston.com/)
4. [Warwickshire CCC, Dafa Partnership](https://www.dafapartnership.com/teams/warwickshire-ccc/)
5. [Warwickshire: Bears post 60% increase in income to £40m in 2025, BBC Sport](https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricket/articles/c1mk2prk7n5o)
6. [140 years of Edgbaston Stadium, Edgbaston](https://www.edgbaston.com/media-article/140-years-of-edgbaston-stadium)
7. [Warwickshire County Cricket Club, Our Warwickshire](https://www.ourwarwickshire.org.uk/content/article/warwickshire-county-cricket-club)
8. [Warwickshire Bears - behind county lines, Edgbaston](https://www.edgbaston.com/media-article/warwickshire-bears-behind-county-lines-2)
9. [Warwickshire County Cricket Club Edgbaston Planning Framework, Birmingham City Council](https://www.birmingham.gov.uk/download/downloads/id/1017/warwickshire_county_cricket_club_edgbaston_planning_framework_part_1.pdf)
10. [Edgbaston: ground history, Off to the Cricket](https://offtothecricket.co.uk/grounds/edgbaston/history/)
11. [Warwickshire defeat Leicestershire at Edgbaston to win County Championship, Sky Sports](https://www.skysports.com/cricket/news/13592028/warwickshire-defeat-leicestershire-at-edgbaston-to-win-county-championship-and-claim-first-title-in-five-years)
12. [Barnard delighted as Bears lift County Championship trophy, Edgbaston](https://www.edgbaston.com/media-article/barnard-delighted-as-bears-lift-county-championship-trophy)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Sports, games, and recreation › Cricket › Cricket people and teams › Teams and sporting organizations › English and Welsh county cricket*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 21, 2026 · Last review: Oct 21, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license