List of Leicestershire County Cricket Club grounds

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Grace Road in the city of Leicester has staged well over half the county's first-class games and almost every game in List A and Twenty20 cricket. Grace Road Cricket Ground - 1 - geography-387387.jpg
Grace Road in the city of Leicester has staged well over half the county's first-class games and almost every game in List A and Twenty20 cricket.

Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of the 18 member clubs of the English County Championship, representing the historic county of Leicestershire. The club was established on 25 March 1879. [1] It has since played first-class cricket from 1894, List A cricket from 1963 and Twenty20 cricket from 2003. [2] [3] [4] [A] Unlike most professional sports, in which a team usually has a single fixed home ground, county cricket clubs have traditionally used different grounds in various towns and cities within the county for home matches, although the use of minor "out grounds" has diminished since the 1980s. [5] [6] Leicestershire's first XI have played home matches at fifteen different grounds.

Contents

The club's debut home match in first-class cricket was played at Grace Road in Leicester. After the 1900 season, the club ceased using Grace Road, [7] as it was felt that it was located too far from the centre of the city. [8] Instead, Aylestone Road became the club's headquarters, and staged nearly 400 first-class matches between 1901 and the outbreak of the Second World War. [9] Due to a combination of wartime damage and industrial development, however, the club was forced to discontinue using Aylestone Road after the war, and Grace Road once again became the club's main venue. [8] In the years after the war, the county also utilised grounds in other towns including Hinckley, Melton Mowbray, Barwell and Loughborough.

In addition to the county's inaugural first-class match, Grace Road also played host to Leicestershire's first home games in the other formats of cricket. In 1964 it staged the county's first home List A game against Northamptonshire and in 2003 it was the venue for the county's first home game in Twenty20 cricket against Yorkshire. The ground has hosted the vast majority of the county's games, including every Twenty20 match since the introduction of that format. Since 1991, when the club played its last game at Leicester Road in Hinckley, the only venue other than Grace Road to host any of Leicestershire's matches is the Oakham School Ground, which is actually located in the adjacent county of Rutland. [10] The school was used for five first-class matches from 2000–07 and nine List A games from 2001–08, followed by a further List A game in 2018 after an absence of ten years.

Grounds

Below is a complete list of grounds used by Leicestershire County Cricket Club for first-class, List A and Twenty20 matches. Statistics are complete through to the end of the 2020 season. Only matches played by Leicestershire CCC at the grounds are recorded in the table. Matches abandoned without any play occurring are not included.

NameLocation First-class List A Twenty20
FirstLastMatchesFirstLastMatchesFirstLastMatches
Grace Road [11] Leicester 17 May 1894
v Yorkshire 		22 August 2020
v Nottinghamshire 		845 [7] 27 May 1964
v Northamptonshire 		6 May 2019
v Warwickshire 		508 [12] 16 June 2003
v Yorkshire 		18 September 2020
v Nottinghamshire 		108 [13]
Aylestone Road [14] Leicester 13 May 1901
v Surrey 		16 June 1962
v Cambridge University 		399 [9] ––0––0
Ashby Road [15] Hinckley 19 August 1911
v Warwickshire 		17 July 1937
v Worcestershire 		19 [16] ––0––0
Bath Grounds [17] Ashby-de-la-Zouch 20 June 1912
v Derbyshire 		6 June 1964
v Derbyshire		43 [18] ––0––0
Park Road [19] Loughborough 31 May 1913
v Nottinghamshire 		9 August 1952
v Kent 		15 [20] 2 August 1970
v Nottinghamshire 		no other matches to date1 [21] ––0
Fox and Goose Ground [22] Coalville 12 June 1913
v Worcestershire 		11 July 1914
v Worcestershire		2 [23] ––0––0
College Ground [24] Loughborough 13 June 1928
v Derbyshire 		6 July 1929
v Glamorgan 		2 [25] ––0––0
Oakham School Ground [26] Oakham 31 August 1935
v Kent 		30 May 2007
v Nottinghamshire 		9 [27] 3 June 2001
v Lancashire 		31 May 2018
v Nottinghamshire 		10 [28] ––0
Egerton Park [29] Melton Mowbray 1 June 1946
v Somerset 		29 May 1948
v Kent 		3 [30] ––0––0
Kirkby Road [31] Barwell 19 June 1946
v Lancashire 		25 June 1947
v Worcestershire 		3 [32] ––0 [B] ––0
Town Ground [33] Coalville 10 June 1950
v Warwickshire 		no other matches to date1 [34] ––0––0
Coventry Road [35] Hinckley 23 June 1951
v Middlesex 		22 July 1964
v Kent 		17 [36] ––0––0
Brush Ground [37] Loughborough 16 May 1953
v Hampshire 		19 June 1965
v Middlesex 		16 [38] ––0––0
Snibston Colliery Ground [39] Coalville 5 June 1957
v Glamorgan 		10 July 1982
v Derbyshire 		8 [40] 12 July 1970
v Glamorgan 		no other matches to date1 [41] ––0
Leicester Road [42] Hinckley 29 July 1981
v Nottinghamshire 		2 July 1991
v Gloucestershire 		11 [43] 3 June 1984
v Essex 		no other matches to date1 [44] [B] ––0

Notes

A. ^ First-class cricket matches are designed to be contested over multiple days, with each team permitted two innings with no limit to the number of overs in an innings. [45] List A matches, also known as limited overs or one-day matches, are intended to be completed in a single day and restrict each team to a single innings of between 40 and 60 overs, depending on the specific competition. [46] Twenty20 matches restrict each team to a single innings of 20 overs. [47]

B. ^ The Leicestershire Cricket Board team played one List A match at each of Kirkby Road and Leicester Road in 2001. [48] The Leicestershire Cricket Board is a separate organisation from Leicestershire County Cricket Club and its matches are not included in the totals.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leicestershire</span> County of England

Leicestershire is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warwickshire to the south-west, Staffordshire to the west, and Derbyshire to the north-west. The border with most of Warwickshire is Watling Street, the modern A5 road.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coalville</span> Town in Leicestershire, England

Coalville is an industrial town and unparished area in the district of North West Leicestershire, Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England, with a population at the 2011 census of 34,575. It lies on the A511 trunk road between Leicester and Burton upon Trent, close to junction 22 of the M1 motorway where the A511 meets the A50 between Ashby-de-la-Zouch and Leicester. It borders the upland area of Charnwood Forest to the east of the town.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Leicestershire County Cricket Club</span> English cricket club

Leicestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Leicestershire. It has also been representative of the county of Rutland. The club's limited overs team is called the Leicestershire Foxes. Founded in 1879, the club had minor county status until 1894 when it was promoted to first-class status pending its entry into the County Championship in 1895. Since then, Leicestershire have played in every top-level domestic cricket competition in England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Grace Road</span> Cricket ground

Grace Road, known for sponsorship reasons as the Uptonsteel County Ground, Grace Road, is a cricket ground in Leicester, England. It is the home ground and administrative base of Leicestershire County Cricket Club.

The Leicestershire Senior League is a football competition based in Leicestershire, England.

The Fox and Goose Ground was a cricket ground in Coalville, Leicestershire. Linked with the nearby Fox & Goose public house, the ground was used as an outground by Leicestershire in 1913 and 1914. First-class cricket was played at the ground twice, with Leicestershire playing against Worcestershire in the 1913 and 1914 County Championship's, with Leicestershire winning both matches. Following the First World War, Leicestershire did not return to the ground. Cricket is no longer played at the ground, which is still in use as a recreation ground and is now known as Scotlands Playing Fields.

The Town Ground was a cricket ground in Coalville, Leicestershire. The ground was used as an outground by Leicestershire in 1950, with Leicestershire playing one first-class match there against Warwickshire in the County Championship. Despite a century from Leicestershire's Charles Palmer (143), Warwickshire won the match by 6 wickets, thanks in part to Abdul Hafeez Kardar's 5 for 25 in Leicestershire's second innings of 83 all out.

Snibston Colliery Ground was a cricket ground in Coalville, Leicestershire. The land for the cricket ground was originally set aside for the miners at Snibston Colliery. Snibston Colliery was used as an outground by Leicestershire following the Second World War, with the county first playing there against Glamorgan in 1957 County Championship. Leicestershire player there intermittently until 1982, playing eight first-class matches there, plus a single List A one-day match against Glamorgan in the 1970 John Player League. The loss of first-class cricket at Snibston Colliery coincided with a downturn in fortune of the colliery. Snibston Grange Cricket Club continued to play at and maintain the ground, with Coalville Town F.C. moving to part of the ground in 1995 and establishing their Owen Street Sports Ground there. The cricket club folded in 2013, leaving Coalville Town F.C. as the sole tenant of the site.

The Brush Ground was a cricket ground in Loughborough, Leicestershire. Owned by the Brush Electrical Machines Company and used by the company cricket team, it was used as an outground by Leicestershire. They first played there in a first-class match against Hampshire in the 1953 County Championship. Leicestershire played there at least once a year until 1965, playing sixteen first-class matches. The ground was later purchased by Leicestershire County Council in 2017, with the ground redeveloped for residential purposes. The sports club moved to new premises three–times the size Nanpantan Road in Loughborough.

Park Road is a cricket ground in Loughborough, Leicestershire. Established along with the formation of Loughborough Town Cricket Club in 1896, the ground first played host to first-class cricket in 1913, when Leicestershire played Nottinghamshire in the County Championship. Leicestershire played at the ground eitherside of the First World War, but did not return until 1933. Leicestershire regularly used Park Road as an outground throughout the 1930s, before the Second World War bought about the suspension of county cricket. Leicestershire resumed playing there after the war and used the ground until 1952, having played fifteen first-class matches there since their first match at the ground in 1913. Leicestershire returned to Park Road 18 years later, playing a List A one-day match there against Nottinghamshire in the 1970 John Player League. The ground is still in use by Loughborough Town Cricket Club.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aylestone Road</span>

Aylestone Road, now also known as the Leicester Electricity Sports Cricket Ground, is a cricket ground in Leicester, England, which was the headquarters of Leicestershire County Cricket Club from 1901 to 1939. Although the playing area is much reduced by housing and commercial developments, it is still used as a cricket ground, though not by the county team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Snibston</span> Human settlement in England

Snibston is an area and former civil parish east of Ravenstone, now in the parish of Ravenstone with Snibstone, in the North West Leicestershire district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. Originally rural, part of Snibston was transformed into a coal mining village by the opening of coal mines by the Snibston Colliery Company in the early 1830s. This industrial part of Snibston was subsequently subsumed into the developing town of Coalville, though small rural areas of Snibston survive within the civil parishes of Ravenstone with Snibston and Hugglescote and Donington le Heath. In the part of Snibston within the latter civil parish stands the 13th-century church of St Mary, noted as the smallest church still in use for regular worship in England. The main Snibston Colliery was sunk in 1831, and after its closure the Snibston Country Park with the Snibston Discovery Museum was built on part of the colliery site. Part of the park is Snibston Grange Local Nature Reserve.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oakham School Ground</span>

Oakham School is a cricket ground in Oakham, Rutland. Forming part of sports facilities of Oakham School, the ground dates from around 1821. First-class cricket was first played at Oakham School in the 1935 County Championship, with Leicestershire playing against Kent. Leicestershire used the ground as an outground on three more occasions prior to the Second World War. Following a gap of 62 years, first-class cricket returned to Oakham School in 2000, when Leicestershire played the 1999 County Champions Surrey. The ground has since been used intermittently as an outground for first-class matches by Leicestershire, with five matches played there since 2000. During the first decade of the 2000s, Leicestershire played nine List A one-day matches at the ground between 2001-08, before returning after a ten year gap when they played Lancashire in the 2018 Royal London One-Day Cup. In 2020, Leicestershire announced plans to revive the Oakham Cricket Festival and make it a permanent part of Leicestershire's county schedule.

Midlands 2 East (North) is a level 7 English Rugby Union league and level 2 of the Midlands League, made up of teams from the northern part of the East Midlands region including clubs from Derbyshire, Lincolnshire, Nottinghamshire and the occasional team from Leicestershire, with home and away matches played throughout the season. When this division began in 1992 it was known as Midlands East 1, until it was split into two regional divisions called Midlands 3 East (North) and Midlands 3 East (South) ahead of the 2000–01 season. Further restructuring of the Midlands leagues ahead of the 2009–10 season, led to the current name of Midlands 2 East (North).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roy Barratt</span> English former cricketer

Roy James Barratt was an English cricketer who appeared in 70 first-class matches for Leicestershire between 1961 and 1970.

The Leicestershire Rugby Union (LRU) is the governing body for the sport of rugby union in the counties of Leicestershire and Rutland in England. The union is the constituent body of the Rugby Football Union (RFU) for those counties. The LRU administers and organises rugby union clubs and competitions in those two counties and administers the Leicestershire county rugby representative teams.

Leicester Aylestone Road Greyhound Track was a greyhound racing stadium on Aylestone Road, Leicester.

References

  1. ↑ Marshall, Ian (2015). Playfair Cricket Annual 2015. Hachette UK. p. 1871. ISBN   978-1-4722-1218-4.
  2. ↑ "First-Class Matches played by Leicestershire". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  3. ↑ "List A Matches played by Leicestershire". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  4. ↑ "Twenty20 Matches played by Leicestershire". CricketArchive. Retrieved 7 July 2015.
  5. ↑ Glover, Andrew (10 April 2013). "Remembering Yorkshire County Cricket Club's out grounds". BBC News . Retrieved 24 May 2015.
  6. ↑ Stockton, Edward (13 June 2006). "Out of town but not out of favour". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 26 June 2015.
  7. 1 2 "First-Class Matches played on Grace Road, Leicester (803)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  8. 1 2 Williamson, Martin. "Leicester Electricity Sports Cricket Club Ground". ESPNcricinfo . Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  9. 1 2 "First-Class Matches played on Aylestone Road, Leicester (399)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  10. ↑ "Oakham School - Contact Us". Oakham School . Retrieved 15 November 2015.
  11. ↑ "Grace Road, Leicester". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  12. ↑ "List A Matches played on Grace Road, Leicester (461)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  13. ↑ "Twenty20 Matches played on Grace Road, Leicester (61)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 5 March 2021.
  14. ↑ "Aylestone Road, Leicester". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  15. ↑ "Ashby Road, Hinckley". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  16. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Ashby Road, Hinckley (19)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 25 July 2015.
  17. ↑ "Bath Grounds, Ashby-de-la-Zouch". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  18. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Bath Grounds, Ashby-de-la-Zouch (43)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  19. ↑ "Park Road, Loughborough". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  20. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Park Road, Loughborough (15)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  21. ↑ "List A Matches played on Park Road, Loughborough (15)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  22. ↑ "Fox and Goose Ground, Coalville". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  23. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Fox and Goose Ground, Coalville (2)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  24. ↑ "College Ground, Loughborough". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  25. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Fox and College Ground, Loughborough (2)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  26. ↑ "Doncaster Close, Oakham School". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  27. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Doncaster Close, Oakham School (9)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  28. ↑ "List A Matches played on Doncaster Close, Oakham School(9)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  29. ↑ "Egerton Park, Melton Mowbray". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  30. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Egerton Park, Melton Mowbray (3)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  31. ↑ "Kirkby Road, Barwell". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  32. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Kirkby Road, Barwell (3)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  33. ↑ "Town Ground, Coalville". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  34. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Town Ground, Coalville (1)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  35. ↑ "Coventry Road, Hinckley". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  36. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Coventry Road, Hinckley (17)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  37. ↑ "Brush Ground, Loughborough". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  38. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Brush Ground, Loughborough (16)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  39. ↑ "Snibston Colliery Ground, Coalville". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  40. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Snibston Colliery Ground, Coalville (8)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  41. ↑ "List A Matches played on Snibston Colliery Ground, Coalville (1)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  42. ↑ "Leicester Road, Hinckley". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  43. ↑ "First-Class Matches played on Leicester Road, Hinckley (11)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  44. ↑ "List A Matches played on Leicester Road, Hinckley (1)". CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 July 2015.
  45. ↑ "The LV= County Championship, Other First Class Matches and Non-First Class MCC University Matches against Counties" (PDF). England and Wales Cricket Board. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  46. ↑ Knight, Julian (2011). "Losing Cricket's Stuffy Image: Introducing One-Day Cricket". Cricket for Dummies. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN   9781119996569 . Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  47. ↑ "NatWest T20 Blast" (PDF). England and Wales Cricket Board. Archived from the original (PDF) on 24 September 2015. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  48. ↑ "List A Matches played by Leicestershire Cricket Board". CricketArchive. Archived from the original on 15 December 2017. Retrieved 3 November 2015.

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