Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-classcounty clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland. The club's limited overs team is called the Leicestershire Foxes. Founded in 1879, the club had minor county status until 1894 when it was promoted to major status pending its entry into the County Championship in 1895. Leicestershire is classified as an unofficialfirst-class team by substantial sources in 1894; classified as an official first-class team from 1895 by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and the County Championship clubs; classified as a List A team since the beginning of limited overs cricket in 1963; and classified as a major Twenty20 team since 2003.