#first class county

Cambridgeshire as a First-Class County — The Tarrant-Hayward-Carpenter Era, 1864-1871

For a brief eight-year period from 1864 to 1871, Cambridgeshire was a first-class county with three of the best players in England — the batsmen Tom Hayward (the elder) and Robert Carpenter, and the fast bowler George Tarrant. In 1865, the year of W.G. Grace's first-class debut, Cambridgeshire fielded what some historians consider the strongest single county side of the decade. By 1872 financial pressures and the loss of its three stars had reduced the county to second-class status, where it has remained ever since.