St George's Park Cricket Ground

St George's Park Cricket Ground (also known as St George's Park,[1][2][3] Crusaders Ground[4] or simply Crusaders) is a cricket ground in St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is the home of the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, one of the oldest cricket clubs in South Africa, and the Eastern Province Club. It is also one of the venues at which Test matches and One Day Internationals are played in South Africa. It is older than Kingswood College in Grahamstown. The ground is notable for its brass band that plays during major matches, adding a unique flavour to its atmosphere.

St George's Park
St George's
Ground information
LocationSt George's Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa
Coordinates33°57′59.35″S 25°36′35.99″E
Capacity19,000
TenantsSouth Africa national cricket team
End names
Duckpond End
Park Drive End
International information
First Test12–13 March 1889:
 South Africa v  England
Last Test16–20 January 2020:
 South Africa v  England
First ODI9 December 1992:
 South Africa v  India
Last ODI19 January 2019:
 South Africa v  Pakistan
First T20I16 December 2007:
 South Africa v  West Indies
Last T20I23 February 2020:
 South Africa v  Australia
Only women's Test2–6 December 1960:
 South Africa v  England
Team information
Eastern Province (1889 – present)
Warriors (2004 – present)
Nelson Mandela Bay Giants (2018 - present)
As of 7 September 2020
Source: ESPNcricinfo

The ground hosted its first Test match in March 1889 when England defeated South Africa by 8 wickets.[1] This was South Africa’s first Test match. As of 2005, there have been 21 Test matches played at the ground of which South Africa has won 8 and their opponents 9 with 4 draws.

The first One Day International played at the ground was in December 1992 when South Africa beat India by 6 wickets. As of 2005, there have been 25 One Day Internationals played at the ground including five in the Cricket World Cup in 2003.

Official name

The ground's official name is "Axxess DSL St Georges" acknowledging a commercial sponsorship arrangement.[5] However South African and other cricket fans continue to call the ground by its historic name, just "St George’s Park". Its nickname is "The Dragon's Lair" based on the famous legend of St George.

2003 Cricket World Cup

St George's Park was one of 15 venues in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya selected to host matches during the world cup. It hosted 5 matches during the tournament, including 3 group games, 1 super six game and a semi-final.

2009 Indian Premier League

When the 2009 IPL was moved to South Africa, St George's Park was chosen as one of eight venues in South Africa to host matches. The ground hosted a seven matches, all of them were group games.

Warriors Cricket

The stadium is one of the Warriors' 2 home grounds, the other being East London's Buffalo Park. The stadium hosts Warriors home matches in the Sunfoil Series, Momentum 1 Day Cup (previously the MTN Domestic Championship) and Ram Slam T20 Challenge.

See also

References
  1. "St George's Park (Sahara Oval, St Georges)". Yahoo. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
  2. "Simon puts Eng on top". The Daily Star (Bangladesh). 2004-12-21. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
  3. "St George's Park, Port Elizabeth". Sport GetAways. Archived from the original on November 25, 2009. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
  4. Highams, E. E. Across a continent in a man-of-war : being the log of commission of H.M.S. "Pelorus", 1906–1909 : with a full account of her cruise of 2,000 miles up the Amazon. London: Westminster Press. p. 79. Retrieved 2010-01-09.
  5. "St George's Park undergoes name change". ESPN Cricket info. 2009-09-11. Retrieved 9 January 2010.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.