2015-02-13



The picturesque Hagley Oval will forever hold a unique place in World Cup history © Getty Images

Ten editions of World Cup cricket, spread across all Test-playing nations, have witnessed 99 grounds. Abhishek Mukherjee looks at the unique space in the annals of World Cup cricket history that awaits Hagley Oval, Christchurch.

As the 11th edition of World Cup cricket tees off with the encounter between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, the venue, Hagley Oval, Christchurch is all set to make its way to cricket history. The ten editions of World Cup cricket have been played across 99 venues: barring a complete washout, Hagley Oval will be the 100th.

The 1975 cricket World Cup started off with four matches on the first day, though the contest between England and India at Lord’s is usually accepted as the first match. The remaining three matches were played at Edgbaston, Headingley, and Old Trafford; Trent Bridge and The Oval also hosted matches in the tournament. World Cup 1979 was also played across the same six grounds.

The third edition, 1983, saw nine more county grounds being introduced. Hyderabad (Punjab) hosted the first match outside England; Chepauk hosted the first in India; Eden Park, in New Zealand; WACA, in Australia; and SSC, Colombo, in Sri Lanka. World Cup 1999 witnessed International Cricket Council (ICC) allocating matches outside England. Thus, Dublin became the first ground to host a match in Ireland; Edinburgh, in Scotland; and Amstelveen, in Netherlands.

As the World Cup moved to Africa, Newlands became the first ground to host a World Cup match on South African soil; it was also the first match played in the new millennium. Other “firsts” were Harare, Zimbabwe; Nairobi, Kenya; Sabina Park, West Indies; and Mirpur, Bangladesh.

Headingley has hosted the most World Cup matches (12). Edgbaston, Old Trafford, and Trent Bridge have hosted 11 each, and Lord’s and The Oval, 10. The most for grounds outside England is seven — a count shared by Chepauk, Chinnaswamy, Premadasa, Sabina Park, Gros Islet, and Kensington Oval.

Cities with two grounds

Country

City

Ground 1

Ground 2

England

London

Lord’s

The Oval

Pakistan

Rawalpindi

Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium

Pindi Club Ground

Sri Lanka

Colombo

R Premadasa Stadium, Khettarama

Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) Ground

India

Chandigarh

Punjab CA Stadium, Mohali

Sector 16 Stadium

India

Nagpur

Vidarbha CA Stadium, Jamtha

Vidarbha CA Ground

In all, 14 countries have hosted World Cup matches, of which England and India have used the most grounds (20). South Africa (12) and Australia are the only ones to have hosted World Cup matches at more than 10 grounds. Four countries — Scotland, Ireland, Netherlands, and Kenya, all Associates — have had World Cup matches at a solitary ground.

In number of matches, however, England’s count of 94 is way ahead of India’s 64. West Indies (51) and South Africa (46) are not too behind either, and both Australia (25) and New Zealand (14) would look to increase their match counts substantially by March 2015.

Grounds per country

Country

Grounds

Matches

England

20

94

India

20

64

South Africa

12

46

Australia

11

25

West Indies

8

51

Pakistan

8

26

New Zealand

7

14

Sri Lanka

5

14

Bangladesh

2

8

Zimbabwe

2

5

Scotland

1

2

Ireland

1

1

Netherlands

1

1

Kenya

1

1

Total

99

352

Finally, here is the list of all grounds that have hosted World Cup matches, in chronological order. It is to be noted that the first 15 grounds are all from England. Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium, Chittagong, was the 99th to host a World Cup match, and the list is all set to go up by one the moment Brendon McCullum or Angelo Mathews announce to bat or bowl.

List of World Cup hosting grounds (in chronological order)

Ground

City

Country

Matches

Lord’s

London

England

10

Edgbaston

Birmingham

England

11

Headingley

Leeds

England

12

Old Trafford

Manchester

England

11

Trent Bridge

Nottingham

England

11

Kennington Oval

London

England

10

St Helen’s

Swansea

England

1

County Ground

Taunton

England

3

Grace Road

Leicester

England

3

County Ground

Bristol

England

3

County Ground, New Road

Worcester

England

3

County Ground

Southampton

England

3

County Ground

Derby

England

2

Nevill Ground

Tunbridge Wells

England

1

County Ground

Chelmsford

England

3

Niaz Stadium

Hyderabad

Pakistan

1

Jinnah Stadium

Gujranwala

Pakistan

2

MA Chidambaram Stadium, Chepauk

Chennai

India

7

Lal Bahadur Shastri Stadium

Hyderabad

India

2

Pindi Club Ground

Rawalpindi

Pakistan

1

National Stadium

Karachi

Pakistan

6

M Chinnaswamy Stadium

Bangalore

India

7

Gaddafi Stadium

Lahore

Pakistan

6

Arbab Niaz Stadium

Peshawar

Pakistan

3

Wankhede Stadium

Mumbai

India

6

Nehru Stadium

Indore

India

1

Green Park

Kanpur

India

2

Feroz Shah Kotla

Delhi

India

6

Eden Gardens

Kolkata

India

6

Iqbal Stadium

Faisalabad

Pakistan

4

Sawai Mansingh Stadium

Jaipur

India

2

Sardar Patel (Gujarat) Stadium, Motera

Ahmedabad

India

5

Sector 16 Stadium

Chandigarh

India

1

Barabati Stadium

Cuttack

India

2

Nehru Stadium

Pune

India

2

Vidarbha CA Ground

Nagpur

India

2

Eden Park

Auckland

New Zealand

4

Western Australia Cricket Association Ground

Perth

Australia

3

Pukekura Park

New Plymouth

New Zealand

1

Melbourne Cricket Ground

Melbourne

Australia

5

Seddon Park

Hamilton

New Zealand

2

Sydney Cricket Ground

Sydney

Australia

4

Bellerive Oval

Hobart

Australia

2

Harrup Park

Mackay

Australia

1

Brisbane Cricket Ground, Woolloongabba

Brisbane

Australia

3

Adelaide Oval

Adelaide

Australia

3

Basin Reserve

Wellington

New Zealand

3

McLean Park

Napier

New Zealand

1

AMI Stadium

Christchurch

New Zealand

2

Eastern Oval

Ballarat

Australia

1

Manuka Oval

Canberra

Australia

1

Carisbrook

Dunedin

New Zealand

1

Berri Oval

Berri

Australia

1

Lavington Sports Oval

Albury

Australia

1

Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium

Rawalpindi

Pakistan

3

Reliance Stadium

Vadodara

India

1

Sinhalese Sports Club Ground

Colombo

Sri Lanka

1

Captain Roop Singh Stadium

Gwalior

India

1

Indira Priyadarshini Stadium

Visakhapatnam

India

1

Moin-ul-Haq Stadium

Patna

India

2

Asgiriya Stadium

Kandy

Sri Lanka

1

Punjab CA Stadium, Mohali

Chandigarh

India

4

County Ground

Hove

England

1

St Lawrence Ground

Canterbury

England

1

County Ground

Northampton

England

2

Sophia Gardens

Cardiff

England

1

Riverside Ground

Chester-le-Street

England

2

Castle Avenue

Dublin

Ireland

1

Grange Cricket Club, Raeburn Place

Edinburgh

Scotland

2

VRA Ground

Amstelveen

Netherlands

1

Newlands

Cape Town

South Africa

5

Harare Sports Club

Harare

Zimbabwe

2

Chevrolet Park

Bloemfontein

South Africa

5

The Wanderers Stadium

Johannesburg

South Africa

5

Kingsmead

Durban

South Africa

5

Senwes Park

Potchefstroom

South Africa

3

Boland Park

Paarl

South Africa

3

St George’s Park

Port Elizabeth

South Africa

5

City Oval

Pietermaritzburg

South Africa

2

SuperSport Park

Centurion

South Africa

5

Buffalo Park

East London

South Africa

3

Diamond Oval

Kimberley

South Africa

3

Willowmoore Park

Benoni

South Africa

2

Gymkhana Club Ground

Nairobi

Kenya

1

Queens Sports Club

Bulawayo

Zimbabwe

3

Sabina Park

Kingston

West Indies

7

Warner Park

Basseterre

West Indies

6

Beausejour Cricket Ground

Gros Islet

West Indies

7

Queen’s Park Oval

Port of Spain

West Indies

6

Sir Vivian Richards Stadium

North Sound

West Indies

6

Providence Stadium

Guyana

West Indies

6

National Cricket Stadium

St George’s

West Indies

6

Kensington Oval

Bridgetown

West Indies

7

Shere Bangla National Stadium, Mirpur

Dhaka

Bangladesh

6

Mahinda Rajapaksa International Cricket Stadium, Sooriyawewa

Hambantota

Sri Lanka

2

Vidarbha CA Stadium, Jamtha

Nagpur

India

4

R.Premadasa Stadium, Khettarama

Colombo

Sri Lanka

7

Pallekele International Cricket Stadium

Pallekele

Sri Lanka

3

Zahur Ahmed Chowdhury Stadium

Chittagong

Bangladesh

2

(Abhishek Mukherjee is the Chief Editor and Cricket Historian at CricketCountry. He blogs here and can be followed on Twitter here.)

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