Kent County Cricket Club
As the team built around Pilch retired from cricket the fortunes of the club declined, the county sometimes forced to field teams of up to 16 or to combine with other clubs in order to compete. Financial difficulties followed and on 1 March 1859 a second county club was formed in Maidstone to support the Canterbury-based club. The two clubs, the Canterbury club known as East Kent, the Maidstone club as West Kent, co-operated to an extent, although the relationship was later described as "anything but satisfactory". The standard of cricket played by the county side, generally organised by the West Kent club, remained poor and the county found it difficult to attract either the best amateur players or professionals to appear, many amateurs only willing to appear during Canterbury Cricket Week. Financial difficulties also caused problems producing competitive sides. An 1870 meeting chaired by the 3rd Lord Harris at the Bull Inn at Rochester saw the two clubs merge to form the present day Kent County Cricket Club.
Sport in Sussex
Sussex played a key role in the development of the sport of cricket and is generally held to have been invented or developed in the Weald of Sussex and Kent. Founded in 1839, Sussex County Cricket Club (Sussex CCC) is the oldest of the county cricket clubs and represents Sussex in the eighteen-club County Championship. Sussex CCC have won the men's County Championship three times, while the Sussex Women cricket team has won the women's County Championship four times. Recreational cricket is also popular in Sussex and is governed by the Sussex Cricket Board, which merged with Sussex CCC in 2015. Founded in 1971, the Sussex Cricket League is the top level of recreational club cricket in Sussex and from 2016 includes a team representing Guernsey. The England and Wales Cricket Board has recognised the league's top division as a designated ECB Premier League since 1999. Notable Sussex cricketers include former England women's captain Holly Colvin and former England international Clare Connor.