A sports ground at Headingley was developed by a group of benefactors led by Lord Hawke who was instrumental in the establishment of Yorkshire County Cricket Club; initially the ground was intended to be used for six sports; cricket, rugby, football, tennis, bowls and cycling. The first recorded first class cricket match took place at Headingley in September 1890. Prior to 1890 Yorkshire played matches around the county with the initial headquarters being at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. Yorkshire continued to use Bramall Lane as a secondary ground until 1973. In 1903 Yorkshire moved their base to Headingley. The mainstand shared between cricket and rugby was destroyed by fire in 1932; this was promptly replaced by a structure which stood until being demolished in 2018. In 2005 the ground was acquired by Yorkshire County Cricket Club from Leeds Cricket, Football and Athletic Company, the company established by Lord Hawke when the ground was first established. The first redevelopment of the ground undertaken under ownership of Yorkshire County Cricket Club was the development of the Carnegie Pavilion which was completed in 2010.[2]
Notable sporting moments
The Leonard Hutton Gates at the Headingley StadiumThe Players Pavilion (now demolished) in 1983The Carnegie Pavilion in 2021
In 1902, Yorkshire beat the touring Australians by five wickets, after dismissing them for 23 in their second innings with George Herbert Hirst and Stanley Jackson taking five wickets each.
Donald Bradman's innings of 334 in the 1930 Ashes Test included 309 runs on the first day, and he followed it in the Australians' next test at Headingley in 1934 with an innings of 304.
Spinner Hedley Verity took 10 wickets for 10 runs in 1932 for Yorkshire v. Nottinghamshire, still the best bowling analysis ever in first-class cricket. Verity had also taken all ten against Warwickshire at Headingley in 1931.
In the Fourth Test of the 1948 Ashes series, Australia scored 404 for three on the last day to beat England. Arthur Morris scored 182 and Bradman scored 173 not out.
In the third test match of the 1975 Ashes series (a four-Test series), early on Tuesday 19 August head groundsman George Cawthray discovered that campaigners calling for the release from prison of George Davis had dug holes in the pitch and poured oil over one end of the wicket. This led to the match being abandoned and declared a draw, denying England the chance to win back the Ashes.[4]
In the third Test of the 1981 Ashes England were forced to follow on. However Ian Botham scored 149 not out, and then Bob Willis took eight wickets for 43, to give England an eventual 18-run victory. Two members of the Australian team had taken the 500–1 odds. This was only the second time in the entire history of Test cricket that a side had followed-on and won; something which would not occur again until 2001.[5]
In a game they had to win to stay in the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, the eventual cup-winners Australia chased down South Africa's 271 for seven after being 48 for three. Steve Waugh, who had been dropped by Herschelle Gibbs as he attempted to throw the ball up in celebration, scored 120 not out.[6]
In 2000, England dismissed the West Indies for 61 to win in two days, with Andy Caddick taking four wickets in an over. England won again seven years later in 2007, as Ryan Sidebottom took eight wickets for 86 in two innings as England subjected the Windies to their worst Test defeat ever, an innings and 283 runs.
In August 2001, England successfully chased 315 to beat Australia, with Mark Butcher scoring an unbeaten 173 as England won by six wickets.[7] However, in August 2009 in the 4th test of The Ashes series, Australia beat England in 2+1⁄2 days by an innings and 80 runs. Australia took twenty wickets with an attack without a spin bowler. England's middle order batsmen (Ravi Bopara, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood) scored 16 runs between them in two innings. However, these were rogue results, with the 2009 series being won by England and the 2001 series won by Australia.
Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid slammed centuries when India played England at Headingley from 22 to 26 August 2002. A venue where England used to bank on for home comforts showcased Team India's convincing win as the then visitors thrashed the Three Lions to clinch the 3rd Test of the four-match series.[8]
While Tendulkar top-scored for India with his majestic 193 off 330 balls, Ganguly played an entertaining knock of 128 off 167 balls. Ganguly and Tendulkar added 249 runs for the 4th wicket to help India register its highest total against England in 2002. In reply, Nasser Hussain's team folded for 273 in their 1st innings and India opted to impose a follow-on.[8]
Skipper Hussain then lifted England with his 110 off 194 in the 2nd innings. However, Hussain's century went in vain as England only mustered 309 in their 2nd innings. India recorded one of the biggest wins over England by winning the 3rd Test by an innings and 46 runs.[9]
On 17 August 2017, Yorkshire Vikings posted the highest ever T20 score in English domestic cricket of 260–4, with Adam Lyth scoring the highest individual score (161) in English T20 domestic cricket.
Twelve days later, Shai Hope scored two centuries in the test match between England and the West Indies, making him the first batsman in first-class cricket at Headingley to score a century in both innings of a match.
On 25 August 2019, England chased down their highest ever fourth innings target in the third Test of the 2019 Ashes series against Australia. England scored 362–9 to win, with Ben Stokes scoring 135*, while being latterly partnered by Jack Leach who scored 1*.
In the third test of the 2023 Ashes, England had a 3-wicket win against Australia.[11]
Present facilities
The ground presently has a spectator capacity of 18,350 making it the fifth largest cricket ground in the United Kingdom by capacity. There is a large media centre to the north of the ground. Corporate facilities are situated in the Emerald Stand, the Carnegie Pavilion and the East Stand. The East Stand also contains banqueting facilities and the Headingley Lodge Hotel. The ground has floodlights enabling late play.
Recent and future developments
Yorkshire County Cricket Club are expanding the ground according to a six phase masterplan with points as follows
Phase one – the erection of four floodlights (completed 2015)
Phase two – the rebuild of the rugby ground end in conjunction with the redevelopment of the North Stand on the rugby side (completed 2019)
Phase three – the addition of 915 seats in the north east corner (not yet undertaken)
Phase four – the development of a five level new pavilion, members long room and dressing facilities to sit over the existing north west corner adjacent to the Carnegie Pavilion (not yet undertaken)
Phase five – A translucent cantilever roof to be erected over the White Rose Stand (not yet undertaken)
Phase six – landscaping on the White Rose Stand and North East concourses (not yet undertaken)[12]
Test cricket records
Don Bradman holds the record for most career runs at Headingley.
In ODIs, the highest team score achieved at Headingley is 351–9 by England against Pakistan on 19 May 2019. The leading run scorers at the ground are Eoin Morgan (477 runs), Joe Root (421 runs) and Marcus Trescothick (408 runs). The leading wicket takers are Adil Rashid (15 wickets), Chris Old (12 wickets) and Ian Botham (11 wickets).
Other events
Headingley Cricket Ground's first concert occurred on Friday 18 September 2015 when ska band Madness performed in front of an audience of 7,500.[37][38]
Sponsorship
The ground was named the Headingley Carnegie Stadium from 2006 to 2013 under a sponsorship deal with Leeds Metropolitan University. Upon the expiry of this deal the grounds name had no sponsor and was named simply Headingley Stadium until 2017 when a deal was done with the Emerald Group Search and Selection making it the Emerald Headingley Stadium. In 2021, Emerald Group pulled out of their sponsorship with immediate effect in the aftermath of the club's racism scandal.[39]
Access
The ground is served by Headingley and Burley Park railway stations as well as the First Leeds routes 19, 19A, 56 and 91 which stop right outside the front entrance of the stadium on Kirkstall Lane.
Along with this there are other buses which stop a short 5 min walk away on Otley Rd Headingley those are First Leeds services 1,6,8,27 and 28 and Yorkshire Buses service 29.
On certain match dates the R66 Shuttle Bus will run from Leeds City Centre to the stadium bus stop on Kirkstall Lane operated by First Leeds.
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