Professional and amateur status in first-class cricket
Professional and amateur status in first-class cricket was a long-standing distinction between participants who were paid – professionals – and those were not paid – amateurs. The divide was a large part of the cricketing landscape between the 1600s and 1962, when amateur status was abolished in England – the country where the system was most developed.
Source: Wikipedia — Professional and amateur status in first-class cricket (CC BY-SA 4.0)