Kent County Cricket Club is one of the eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Kent. A club representing the county was first founded in 1842 but Kent teams have played top-class cricket since the early 18th century, and the club has always held first-class status. The current Kent County Cricket Club was formed on 6 December 1870 following the merger of two representative teams. Kent have competed in the County Championship since the official start of the competition in 1890 and have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England. The club's limited overs team is called the Kent Spitfires after the Supermarine Spitfire. The county has won the County Championship seven times, including one shared victory. Four wins came in the period between 1906 and 1913 with the other three coming during the 1970s when Kent also dominated one-day cricket cup competitions. A total of 13 one-day cricket cup victories include eight between 1967 and 1978, with the last trophy won by the club coming in the 2022 Royal London One-Day Cup. The club plays most of its home matches at the St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury, which hosts Canterbury Cricket Week, the oldest cricket festival in England. It also plays some home matches at the County Cricket Ground, Beckenham and the Nevill Ground, Royal Tunbridge Wells which hosts Tunbridge Wells Cricket Week. Kent also field a women's team. Kent Women won the Women's County Championship a record eight times, most recently in 2019, and the Women's T20 title three times, most recently in 2016. It has traditionally played matches at the Polo Farm in Canterbury, but since 2016 has moved to be based mainly at Beckenham. History Cricket is generally believed to have originated out of children's bat and ball games in the areas of the Weald and North and South Downs of Kent and Sussex, and these counties and Surrey were the first centres of the game. There are records of the sport being played in Kent during the 17th century, although a match in 1705, probably at Town Malling, is the first that is definitely recorded as taking place within the county. Early county teams to 1842 The first inter-county match took place between a Kent side and one from Surrey on Dartford Brent in 1709, although three matches between Kent and