When Prince Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji stepped onto the Old Trafford playing field on July 16th 1896 for the Second Ashes Test of the summer, history was made. Ranjitsinhji, or as nicknamed by his team-mates, ‘Smith’, became the first player of Asian descent to represent England at international cricket.
For the past forty years the English county game has welcomed players from all over the globe.
During this time county cricket has had an era of glory from the sixties to the start of the nineties, when it could boast talents such as the three Sirs – Viv Richards, Garfield Sobers and Richard Hadlee, as well as many more. More recently however county cricket has begun to flounder.