Oxford Historian Sir William Dugdale (1605-1686) stated that Oliver Cromwell paid little attention to his studies at Sydney Sussex College, but threw himself into a dissolute lifestyle playing "foot-ball, cricket, cudgelling and wrestling" which, if true, would place cricket active in Cambridge in 1616, maybe restricted to the University.

The earliest verifiable reference to the game locally is a complaint in 1710 about Cambridge University students leaving their meals before Grace was said in order to play cricket (and "foot-ball"). Outside the university, the earliest reference is a game is in the Northampton Mercury in 1744 - "On Monday the 4th June next a Cricket Match will be play’d on March Common, in the Isle of Ely, between the Gentlemen of March and the Gentlemen of Wisbeach, Eleven of a Side, for five Pounds a Man, when it is expected there will be a very numerous Meeting of the best Fashion."

The first recorded use of "Cambridge" (as opposed to "Cambridge University") was in the Cambridge Journal and simply noted "on Monday June 26 1758, at Saffron Walden, Cambridge beat Saffron Walden". Cambridge also won the return match on Jesus Green on Wednesday July 5 1758. Cambridge Town's earliest known first-class match was against the University in 1819 and the county name was first used for the match against Surrey in 1857.

In the early years, there was much confusion between "Cambridge", "Cambridge Town" and "Cambridgeshire" Cricket Clubs, even between scorers at the same match. It seems likely that all three could be said to represent the de facto "Cambridgeshire CCC" from time to time (but certainly not always). A good example is the 1791 Newmarket match referred to as "Suffolk v Cambridgeshire", but the 1792 return match is billed as between "The Gentleman of Cambridge and Newmarket".

Cambridge Town CC was formed some time before 1819 and eventually evolved into the original county club from many sources, including the Cambridge Union Club (1826–1833), which was formally established on 13 March 1844, playing under the name of "Cambridge Town and County Club". This side beat the University in a two day game by an innings and 54 runs on Parker's Piece on 21 and 22 May that year, with Charles Pryor scoring a century and Francis Fenner taking 17 wickets. However, after 1847 the name reverted to Cambridge Town. The county club did not play matches outside East Anglia until 1857 when it played Surrey CCC. From 1857 until 1871 some Cambridgeshire sides were accorded first-class status. The first official Cambridgeshire County Cricket Club (confusingly called "The County Club of Cambridge") was formed in 1858 and was based at Babraham. Initially it operated as a Gentlemen's Club although in response to public pressure it oversaw representative county sides from 1861-63 and 1866-68. Two first-class matches arranged in 1869 and 1871 involved playing members of the former club and the team in both these games was called Cambridgeshire by the sources.

The most successful season was 1864, when all three matches played were won. The regular home ground was Fenner's. Tom Hayward Senior made most first-class appearances, playing in 35 of the matches, and also made most runs, 1934 at 33.34, and scored two of the four centuries made for the county, both in 1861. He and Robert Carpenter put on 212 for the 3rd wicket against Surrey at The Oval in 1861, both scoring centuries. This was the highest partnership for the county. George Tarrant took most wickets: 197 at 12.25, plus a further 22 wickets for which the runs conceded are not known. He had match figures of 15-56 against Kent at Chatham in 1862, including 8-16 in an innings. He also took 8-45 in an innings against Surrey at Fenner's the same year. In the early 1860s, Carpenter and Hayward were rated as the finest batsmen in England.