Northamptonshire Cricket Club is one of the 18 major counties which make up the English domestic cricket structure. The team plays the majority of its games at the County Cricket Ground, Northampton, but has used outlier grounds at Peterborough, Kettering, Wellingborough and Finedon in the past. It has also used grounds outside the county, at Luton, Tring and Milton Keynes, for one-day games.

The club is possibly the oldest club in the present-day County Championship, having been formed as early as 1820 but substantially reorganised in 1878. It first came to prominence in the Minor Counties championship during the 1890s, and, between 1900 and 1905, the bowling of George Thompson and William East was much too good for almost all batsmen at that level. The county applied for first-class status in 1904 and was promoted the following year.

Though Thompson and East proved themselves bowlers of high class, feebleness in batting kept the county close to the bottom until Sydney Smith arrived in 1909. After three years in the middle of the table, they made a surprising jump to second in 1912 and fourth in 1913. Thompson, Smith and William "Bumper" Wells were one of the best attacks in county cricket, whilst Smith and Haywood were the county's best batsmen.