| Ground information | |
|---|---|
| Location | Sheffield, Yorkshire |
| Establishment | 1830 (first recorded match) |
| Capacity | 16,000 |
| Domestic team information | |
| Sheffield Cricket Club (1830-1834, 1846-1848 & 1852) Yorkshire (pre-county club) (1833-1836 & 1849-1853) |
|
| As of 23 August 2010 Source: Ground profile |
|
Hyde Park Ground was a cricket ground in Sheffield, Yorkshire. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1830, when Sheffield Cricket Club played Nottingham Cricket Club in the ground's inaugural first-class match. Sheffield used the ground a number of times in first-class cricket, from 1830 to 1852, with their final first-class match there against Manchester Cricket Club in 1852. Hyde Park was also used by pre-county club Yorkshire, the representative team of Yorkshire which predates the current county club, for a first-class match in 1833, when it played pre-county club Norfolk. Pre-county club Yorkshire used the ground until 1853, when they played their final first-class match at the ground against a United England Eleven. In total the ground hosted 20 first-class matches over a 20 year period.[1] A note of history came when the ground played host to the first cricket match between Yorkshire and Lancashire on the 20 July 1849.[2]
The final recorded match on the ground came in 1866, when Nottingham and Sheffield Colts played an All-England Eleven.[3] W. G. Grace played in this as a guest player and captained the Colts team. It was his first visit to Sheffield and he recalled in his Recollections that "the ground stood on the top of a high hill, and I began to despair of the cab ever getting to the top".[4]
The location of the ground today is within the Hyde Park district of Sheffield, close to estates such as Park Hill. In its heyday, the site of the ground had space for up to 10 cricket matches at a time.