The Lancashire side of the late 1960s and early 1970s, captained by Jack Bond and featuring the West Indian batsman Clive Lloyd, was successful in limited overs cricket, winning the Sunday League in 1969 and 1970 and the Gillette Cup four times between 1970 and 1975.

As advised by the Association of Cricket Statisticians (ACS), the earliest known reference to the sport being played in the county has been found in the Manchester Journal dated Saturday, 1 September 1781.

It concerned an eleven-a-side match played the previous Monday, 27 August, at Brinnington Moor between a team of printers and one representing the villages of Haughton and Bredbury, who were the winners.

[6] It was intended to stage home matches alternately at Old Trafford, Aigburth, Preston, Blackburn and at "other places to help introduce good cricket throughout the county".

[6] The new county club played its first-ever official game at Warrington against Birkenhead Park on Wednesday, 15 June 1864 but that was not a first-class match.

[8] Dick Barlow carried his bat for just 5 not out in Lancashire's total of 69 in two and a half hours against Nottinghamshire on a treacherous, rain-affected Trent Bridge pitch in July 1882.

In that same year Johnny Briggs and Dick Pilling set a first-class record partnership for the tenth wicket of 173 that stood until 1899 and has not been bettered by Lancashire.

[11] Lancashire won its first county championship in 1897, a productive bowling attack made up of Johnny Briggs, Willis Cuttell, Albert Hallam, and Arthur Mold took 420 wickets between them.

The club began to experience financial problems during this same period; the increased popularity of other sports was blamed for the dip in attendances.

In 1914, Lancashire sank to its lowest position of eleventh, whilst during World War I the pavilion was used by the Red Cross and 1,800 patients were treated there.

1922 was a year of contradictions, a strong team winning seven out of fifteen matches by an innings, but still managing to lose seven and finish 5th; that season Cec Parkin and Lawrence Cook mustered 308 wickets between them and Ernest Tyldesley scored over 2,000 runs.

In 1927, Charlie Hallows scored six centuries and the bowling attack was led by Dick Tyldesley and Ted McDonald with support from Frank Sibbles.

In 1928, Frank Watson and Ernest Tyldesley scored over 2,000 runs each and George Duckworth claimed 107 victims and earned recognition as one of Wisden's five Cricketers of the Year.

Lancashire won the championship outright for the last time in 1934, the same year that Len Hopwood performed the double of 1,000 runs and 100 wickets (a feat he repeated in 1935) and Cyril Washbrook began to work his way into the team.

His successor, Ken Cranston, was an unusual choice as he had no prior first-class experience; despite this his captaincy was not unsuccessful as Lancashire finished third and fifth during his two years in charge.

Despite finishing 11th in 1949, in 1950 – under the captaincy of Nigel Howard – Lancashire shared the county championship with Surrey, winning 16 matches; Roy Tattersall and Malcolm Hilton claimed nearly 300 wickets between them.

Things declined further in 1962, under the leadership of Joe Blackledge, who had had no previous first-class experience, as Lancashire dropped to second last, winning only two matches.

In the Gillette Cup semi-final against Gloucestershire in 1971, David Hughes walked to the crease at 8.45pm and hit 24 from an over in near darkness to win the match.

Despite boasting international players such as Lloyd and Engineer, Lancashire's first-class performances never matched the success of the limited overs team.

Towards the end of the 1980s, Lancashire's side began to develop, with Graeme Fowler and Gehan Mendis building a productive opening partnership, while David Hughes and Neil Fairbrother provided support in the middle order.

The bowlers were led by Patrick Patterson and Paul Allott with support from David Hughes, Mike Watkinson and Jack Simmons.

Mike Atherton made his Lancashire debut in 1987 – scoring 600 runs in the second half of the season – and Wasim Akram first played for the team in 1988.

This was the first time any county had won both competitions in the same year; Lancashire narrowly missed out on a treble, finishing runners-up in the Sunday League.

In 1998, with Wasim Akram as captain, Lancashire won the NatWest Trophy and Axa League, and finished second in the championship despite losing only five games in all competitions throughout the season.

[13] Lancashire's one day form began to fluctuate in 2000, losing to Gloucestershire in the semi-finals of both the B&H Cup and the NatWest Trophy, and being relegated in the National League.

Mike Watkinson was appointed cricket manager,[23] and Stuart Law and Alec Swann both scored over 1,000 first-class runs and Peter Martin and Glen Chapple both took more than 50 wickets; the find of the season was that of James Anderson, who burst onto the scene with 50 wickets in the second half of the season, earning him a promotion to the England side.

At one point in the season, the team was without eight bowlers, with James Anderson, Andrew Flintoff, and Sajid Mahmood on international duty, while Glen Chapple, Dominic Cork, Kyle Hogg, Peter Martin, and all-rounder Carl Hooper were all injured.

[26] Despite being relegated in the County Championship, the team managed finish as runners up in the National League and were expected to be promoted back to the first division of first-class cricket in the 2005 season.

Ashley Giles (formerly of Warwickshire and England) was appointed as Director of Cricket and Head Coach after Mike Watkinson stepped down from the role in October 2014.

Lancashire Cricket Club has a record of strong finances which has been attributed to several factors including its diverse facilities and having the largest membership in the country.