List of Kent County Cricket Club grounds

This is a list of grounds that Kent County Cricket Club have used since the formation of the first county club in August 1842. The club has used 29 grounds for first-class, List A and Twenty20 home matches. Prior to the formation of the first county club an informal county team had appeared in first-class matches from 1773 and cricket had been played in the county from at least the 17th century.[1][2]

The St Lawrence Ground in Canterbury was unusual in having a tree of over 100 feet in height (visible on the left of the picture) within the boundary of the playing area. The tree blew down in a storm in 2005, and a much smaller replacement was planted at the same spot later that year.

White Hart Field in Bromley played host to the club's first home fixture in first-class cricket against an All England cricket team in 1842.[1] The county was based at the Beverley Ground in Canterbury until 1846 and Canterbury Cricket Week was first established at this ground.[3][4] From 1847 the base for the county moved to the St Lawrence Ground, also in Canterbury, and this ground was later established as the county's formal headquarters.[5] It is now the main ground for the county and hosts the majority of home matches. The ground is famous for having had a tree, the St Lawrence Lime, on the playing area for most of its history.[6][7][8] although it was only used for county cricket during Canterbury week until well into the 20th century.[9]

Unusually for a first-class county, Kent have played over 100 home fixtures at seven grounds and continued to play the majority of its matches away from the St Lawrence Ground until well into the 20th century.[9][10] The out-grounds still in use as of 2018 are the Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells, which hosts the annual Tunbridge Wells Cricket Week, and the County Cricket Ground, Beckenham.

The 29 grounds that Kent have used for home matches since 1842 are listed below along with The Oval in London, which is the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club which was used for two home matches by Kent.

Grounds

Below is a list of grounds used by Kent County Cricket Club in first-class, List A and Twenty20 matches. Grounds are listed in order of their first use by the county. The count only includes matches where Kent were the home team. Many grounds have been used by other teams, including for international matches.[upper-alpha 1]

As of 18 September 2020

Name	Location	FC	LA	T20	First match	Last match	Refs
White Hart Field	Bromley	1[upper-alpha 2]	0	0	25 August 1842 v England		[11]
Beverley Ground	Canterbury	7[upper-alpha 3]	0	0	13 July 1843 v Sussex	3 August 1846 v England	[12]
Hemsted Park[upper-alpha 4]	Benenden	1	0	0	17 August 1843 v England		[13]
Higher Common Ground	Tunbridge Wells	28[upper-alpha 5]	0	0	31 July 1845 v Sussex	25 August 1884 v Somerset	[14]
Preston Hall Ground	Aylesford	2	0	0	23 July 1846 v Surrey	15 July 1847 v Surrey	[15]
St Lawrence Ground	Canterbury	581[upper-alpha 6][upper-alpha 7]	366[upper-alpha 7]	70	2 August 1847 v England	18 September 2020 v Essex	[17][18]
Bat and Ball Ground	Gravesend	142[upper-alpha 6][upper-alpha 8]	0	0	21 June 1849 v All England Eleven	26 May 1971 v Pakistanis	[17][19]
School Field	Cranbrook	2	0	0	15 July 1850 v All England Eleven	24 July 1851 v All England Eleven	[20]
Mote Park	Maidstone	218	53[upper-alpha 9]	2	23 June 1859 v MCC	5 June 2005 v Derbyshire	[21]
New Brompton Cricket Ground	Chatham	1	0	0	12 June 1862 v Cambridgeshire		[22]
Swifts Park	Cranbrook	2	0	0	24 July 1862 v Yorkshire	23 July 1863 v Nottinghamshire	[23]
Sandgate Plain	Folkestone	2	0	0	31 July 1862 v Sussex	30 July 1863 v Sussex	[24]
Crystal Palace Park	Crystal Palace	5[upper-alpha 10]	0	0	21 July 1864 v Nottinghamshire	25 August 1870 v Sussex	[25]
New Cricket Ground	Margate	1	0	0	28 July 1864 v Sussex		[26]
B. M. Close's Ground	Southborough	1	0	0	8 July 1867 v Hampshire		[27]
Angel Ground	Tonbridge	106	0	0	22 July 1869 v Nottinghamshire	7 June 1939 v Glamorgan	[28]
Private Banks Sports Ground	Catford	38	0	0	31 May 1875 v Sussex	29 June 1921 v Nottinghamshire	[29]
Mount Field	Faversham	1	0	0	17 August 1876 v Hampshire		[30]
Old County Ground	West Malling	4[upper-alpha 11]	0	0	3 June 1878 v Nottinghamshire	3 July 1890 v Sussex	[31]
Foxgrove Road	Beckenham	14	0	0	22 July 1886 v Surrey	3 August 1905 v Surrey	[32]
The Rectory Field	Blackheath	84	3	0	26 May 1887 v Gloucestershire	3 June 1972 v Surrey	[33]
Nevill Ground	Tunbridge Wells	189	27[upper-alpha 12]	6	15 July 1901 v Lancashire	17 June 2019 v Notts	[17][34]
Crabble Athletic Ground	Dover	106	4	0	11 July 1907 v Gloucestershire	21 July 1976 v Derbyshire	[35]
Garrison 1 Cricket Ground	Chatham	3[upper-alpha 13]	0	0	9 June 1926 v Derbyshire	14 May 1927 v Northamptonshire	[36]
Cheriton Road	Folkestone	85[upper-alpha 14]	23[upper-alpha 14]	0	8 September 1926 v MCC	1 July 1995 v Cambridge University	[37]
Garrison Ground 2	Gillingham	28[upper-alpha 15]	3	0	5 May 1937 v Worcestershire	6 August 1972 v Leicestershire	[38]
The Kent County Cricket Ground	Beckenham	7[upper-alpha 16]	10	23	9 June 1954 v Gloucestershire	4 August 2019 v Hampshire	[17][39]
Hesketh Park	Dartford	33	2	0	16 May 1956 v Essex	8 August 1990 v Leicestershire	[40]
Midland Bank Sports Ground	Beckenham	0	1	0	10 May 1970 v Lancashire		[41]

The Oval

Kent have used The Oval, the home ground of Surrey County Cricket Club, for "home" matches on two occasions. The quarter-final of the 1981 Benson & Hedges Cup against Warwickshire was scheduled to be played on the St Lawrence Ground but, following heavy rain, the ground was deemed unplayable. Play was impossible on the first two days allocated for the fixture and an inspection on a third day also ruled out play and the match was switched to use The Oval at short notice.[42][43]

The second Kent "home" match on the ground was a 2010 Twenty20 Cup fixture against Essex which Kent chose to play on the ground in an attempt to increase attendance and, as a result, income. The experiment was not repeated.[42][44][45]

Notes

1. Matches known to have been abandoned without a ball being bowled are excluded from the count.
2. Another first-class match between Kent and England was played on White Hart Field in 1841 before the formation of Kent County Cricket Club in August 1842.
3. Three first class matches were played on the ground by Kent sides prior to the official formation of the first Kent County Cricket Club which took place at the ground during the 1842 Canterbury Cricket Week. The Gentlemen of Kent also played five first-class matches at the ground. Only the first-class matches played at the ground by Kent after the formation of the county cricket club are recorded in the table.
4. Some sources refer to the ground as Hensted Park. Contemporary reports, Benendon Cricket Club and Kent's own sources all call it Hemsted or Hempsted.
5. The North v South first-class fixture was played at Higher Common Ground five times between 1854 and 1883. One Married v Single first-class match as well as a first-class fixture involving a combined Kent and Sussex cricket team against an All-England Eleven were also played on the ground. Only the first-class matches played at the ground by Kent are recorded in the table.
6. Kent County Cricket Club sources do not include a number of matches played by the county in the 19th century where 13 or more players were included in the Kent side as first-class matches. These are not included in the count of matches in this list but are accepted as first-class matches by some sources and particularly effect the count of first-class matches played on the St Lawrence Ground.[16]
7. A number of other matches have taken place at the St Lawrence Ground, including One Day International matches. Only the matches played at the ground by Kent County Cricket Club are recorded in the table.
8. The South played two first-class matches on the Bat and Ball Ground against the touring Australians in 1884 and 1886. Only the first-class matches played at the ground by Kent are recorded in the table.
9. Kent Cricket Board played five List A matches at Mote Park between 1999 and 2002. Only the List A matches played at the ground by Kent County Cricket Club are recorded in the table.
10. Crystal Palace Park later served as the home ground for London County Cricket Club in first-class matches between 1900 and 1904. Only the first-class matches played at the ground by Kent are recorded in the table.
11. Prior to the formation of the first Kent County Cricket Club in August 1842, Kent sides played ten first-class matches at West Malling between 1836 and 1841. Only the first-class matches played at the ground by Kent after the formation of the county cricket club are recorded in the table.
12. A One Day International was played at the Nevill Ground during the 1983 Cricket World Cup. Only matches played at the ground by Kent are recorded in the table.
13. The Royal Navy played two first-class matches here in 1929 against MCC and the Royal Air Force. Only the first-class matches played at the ground by Kent are recorded in the table.
14. Several teams have played first-class cricket at Cheriton Road and Kent Cricket Board played a single List A match on the ground in the 2002 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy against Hampshire. Only the matches played at the ground by Kent County Cricket Club are recorded in the table.
15. The Combined Services cricket team played two first-class matches here in 1949 against Kent and the touring New Zealanders. Only the first-class matches played at the ground by Kent where they were the home team are recorded in the table.
16. West Indies A played India A in a first-class match at Beckenham in 2018. Only the first-class matches played at the ground by Kent are recorded in the table.

References

1. A brief history of Kent, CricInfo. Retrieved 2016-02-14.
2. Early Cricket (Pre 1799), International Cricket Council. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
3. Jones KH (1934) An early relic of Kent Cricket, in Archaeologia Cantiana, vol 48, pp.240–243. Retrieved 2017-12-01.
4. Homer J (2015) Ye Olde Beverlie, St Stephen's Green in Canterbury Pubs. Stroud: Amberley Publishing Limited. (Available online. Retrieved 2017-12-01).
5. Sweetinburgh S (2015) Kent Cricket and a Tudor Mansion, Canterbury Christchurch University, 2015-08-06. Retrieved 2018-03-24.
6. The Kent County Club and the St Lawrence Ground, The Times, 1896-03-14, p.13.
7. Kent County Cricket Club, The Times, 1897-03-25, p.11.
8. Moseling M, Quarrington T (2013) A Half-Forgotten Triumph: The story of Kent's County Championship title of 1913, p.35. Cheltenham: SportsBooks. ISBN 978-1-907524-40-0.
9. Hignell A (2002) Rain Stops Play: Cricketing Climates, pp. 67–112. London: Abingdon. ISBN 0-7146-5173-7.
10. Hignell, op. cit., pp. 65–66.
11. White Hart Field, Bromley, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
12. Beverley Ground, Canterbury, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
13. Hensted Park (sic), Benenden, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-12-02. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
14. Higher Common Ground, Tunbridge Wells, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
15. Preston Hall Ground, Aylesford, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
16. Kent Records, in Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2018, p.141. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club.
17. Grounds Records, in Kent County Cricket Club Annual 2018, pp.180–181. Canterbury: Kent County Cricket Club.
18. St Lawrence Ground, Canterbury, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
19. Bat and Ball Ground, Gravesend, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
20. School Field, Cranbrook, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-12-05. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
21. Mote Park, Maidstone, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
22. New Brompton, Chatham, CricketArchive. Archived on 2016-11-14. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
23. Swifts Park, Cranbrook, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-10-15. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
24. Sandgate Plain Ground, Sandgate, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
25. Crystal Palace Park, Crystal Palace, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
26. Clifton Villa Estate, Margate, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
27. BM Close's Ground, Southborough, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
28. Angel Ground, Tonbridge, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
29. St Dunston's College Ground, Catford, CricketArchive. Archived on 2015-09-07. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
30. Mount Field, Faversham, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-01-28. Retrieved 2017-05-26. (subscription required)
31. Old County Ground, Town Malling, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
32. Foxgrove Road, Beckenham, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
33. The Rectory Field, Blackheath, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
34. The Nevill Ground, Tunbridge Wells, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
35. Crabble Athletic Ground, Dover, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-07-01. Retrieved 2018-06-25. (subscription required)
36. Garrison 1 Cricket Ground, Chatham, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-12-14. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
37. Cheriton Road Sports Ground, Folkestone, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-06-30. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
38. Garrison Ground 2, Gillingham, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-07-10. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
39. The Kent County Cricket Ground, Beckenham, CricketArchive. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
40. Hesketh Park, Dartford, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-09-24. Retrieved 2018-05-26. (subscription required)
41. Midland Bank Sports Ground, Beckenham, CricketArchive. Archived on 2017-11-13. Retrieved 2018-06-25. (subscription required)
42. Milton (2020), pp.203–204.
43. Kent v Warwickshire, Benson and Hedges Cup 1981 (Quarter-Final), CricketArchive. (subscription required)
44. Kent to stage home T20 Cup clash at the Brit Oval, Kent Online, 2009-12-09. Retrieved 2016-01-30.
45. Kent play host at The Oval but home from home no help against Essex, The Guardian, 2010-07-09. Retrieved 2016-01-30.

Bibliography

Milton H (2020) Kent County Cricket Grounds. Woking: Pitch Publishing. ISBN 978-1-78531-661-6