Officers Club Services Ground

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Officers Club Services Ground
Ground information
Location Aldershot, Hampshire
Coordinates 51°15′37″N0°46′17″W / 51.2603°N 0.7713°W / 51.2603; -0.7713
Establishment1861
International information
Only WT20I27 June 2011:
Flag of India.svg  India v Flag of New Zealand.svg  New Zealand
Team information
Hampshire (1905–1948)
Army (1906–present)
As of 5 September 2020
Source: Ground profile

The Officers Club Services Ground is a cricket ground in Fleet Road, Aldershot, Hampshire, England. The ground was used as a host venue for first-class cricket by Hampshire and various services teams from 1905 to 1964, hosting nine matches. A Women's Twenty20 International was later played there in 2011.

Contents

History

Aldershot had been a small village until 1853, but was transformed following the purchase of 25,000 acres of land by the War Office for military training. [1] Over the following two decades Aldershot was transformed into a garrison town, by 1874 a number of cricket grounds, including the Officers Club Services Ground, had been constructed for use by the various regiments garrisoned there. [1]

The first recorded match to have been played there was in 1861 between the Knickerbockers and I Zingari. Over the coming decade the ground was used by the Aldershot Division in matches primarily against I Zingari and the Marylebone Cricket Club, though not exclusively as some matches were against other parts of the armed forces. [2] A pavilion was built in 1887. [1] Hampshire first played first-class cricket there in the 1905 County Championship against Surrey, [3] with Hampshire losing this match by 7 wickets. [4] Hampshire used the ground twice more as a venue before World War I, playing Surrey in 1906 and Somerset in 1910. This season also saw its first-class use by an armed services team, when a combined Army and Navy team played a combined Oxford and Cambridge Universities team, which marked the final first-class match played there before World War I. [3] First-class cricket did not return immediately after the war, the first match of note came in May 1932 when the Army played the touring Indians in a two-day non-first-class match, which was abandoned without a ball bowled. [2] [5] Later that year in June, first-class cricket returned to the ground when the Army played the touring South Americans, which the Army won by 5 wickets. [6]

The following season, the Army played another first-class match against the touring West Indians, which ended in a draw. Of note was the Army's opening partnership of 286 in their first-innings between Reginald Hudson and Cyril Hamilton. [7] This was the final first-class match held there before World War II, [3] despite visits from the touring Australians in 1934 and 1938, and from the West Indians in 1939, none of which were rated first-class. [2] A new pavilion was constructed to replace the original in 1936 and was opened by General Sir John Francis Gathorne-Hardy. [1] [8]

Minor matches between various armed services teams and the Oxford University Authentics were played during the war. Following the end of the war, Hampshire returned to playing first-class cricket at the ground, [3] playing two matches in 1948 against Cambridge University, which was drawn, [9] and the Combined Services, which Hampshire won by an innings and 60 runs. [10] These matches were the last first-class matches Hampshire would play there. First-class cricket did not return until 1964, when the final first-class held there was played between the Combined Services and Oxford University. [3] Both the Army and the Combined Services continued to play at the ground after this, doing so to this day. [2] More recently, a Women's Twenty20 International was played there in 2011 between India Women and New Zealand Women, [11] which India Women won by 3 wickets. [12]

Records

First-class

See also

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Ground profile: Officers Club Services Ground". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  2. 1 2 3 4 "Other matches played on Officers Club Services Ground, Aldershot" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "First-Class Matches played on Officers Club Services Ground, Aldershot" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  4. 1 2 "Hampshire v Surrey, 1905 County Championship" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  5. ↑ "Army v Indians, 1932" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  6. ↑ "Army v South Americans, 1932" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  7. ↑ "Army v West Indians, 1933" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  8. ↑ Cricket Grounds of Hampshire. The Association of Cricket Statisticians and Historians. 1988. pp. 22–23.
  9. ↑ "Hampshire v Cambridge University, 1948" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  10. ↑ "Hampshire v Combined Services, 1948" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  11. ↑ "Women's International Twenty-20 Matches played on Officers Club Services Ground, Aldershot" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  12. ↑ "India Women v New Zealand Women, 2011" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  13. ↑ "Officers Club Services Ground, Aldershot - Lowest Team Totals in first-class cricket" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  14. ↑ "Officers Club Services Ground, Aldershot - Centuries in first-class cricket" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  15. ↑ "Officers Club Services Ground, Aldershot - Seven Wickets in an Innings in first-class cricket" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  16. ↑ "Officers Club Services Ground, Aldershot - Most Wickets in a Match in first-class cricket" . CricketArchive. Retrieved 29 December 2011.

51°15′37″N0°46′17″W / 51.2603°N 0.7713°W / 51.2603; -0.7713

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