5 facts about English cricket history that you probably didn't know

#2 The England team was actually known as the MCC team till 1996 on tours

Alec Stewart in an MCC jumper circa 1995.

As everyone knows, England is a country which has certain traditions that are probably best understood by natives and one of those is that the when the national cricket team toured other nations, they were not officially known as the 'England cricket team'.

The Marylebone Cricket Club, which governs Lord's was the ultimate power of English cricket when the team started playing cricket and as everyone knows, the laws of the game have also been written by them.

The MCC was charged with the organisation of cricket tours to the rest of the world and they performed the role from 1903 through to 1976, when England toured India. The team was, hence, known as the MCC team when on tour and those administrative duties lay with the club, until the Test and County Cricket Board took up the responsibilities in 1993.

However, the touring team was known as the MCC and also wore the club's distinct red and yellow colours on its jumpers on tours till as recently as the 1996-97 visit to New Zealand. After that, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) took over and now the team is referred to as England everywhere.