Grace Road

Grace Road

The Pavilion at Grace Road
Ground information
Location Leicester, England
Establishment 1878
Capacity 12,000
End names
Pavilion End
Bennett End
International information
First ODI 11 June 1983:
 India v  Zimbabwe
Last ODI 27 May 1999:
 Scotland v  West Indies
Team information
Leicestershire (1894 – present)
As of 8 September 2008
Source: CricketArchive

Grace Road (known for sponsorship reasons as the Fischer County Ground, Grace Road[1]) is a cricket ground in Leicester, England. It is the home ground and administrative base for Leicestershire County Cricket Club.

History

The Bennett End of the ground
The Meet (right)

The land which Grace Road is built on was bought by Leicestershire County Cricket Club in 1877 from the then Duke of Rutland and spent the massive sum of £40,000 on developing a cricket club, athletic track and hotel.[2] The first match played on the ground took place three months later, when Leicestershire beat the touring Australia team. Contrary to popular belief, the road was named after a local property owner, not W. G. Grace.

Leicestershire left the Grace Road site in 1901 due to lack of public transport to the ground causing low crowds.[3] They moved to a site near to Aylestone Road, as it was closer to the city centre. Leicestershire did eventually return to Grace Road after the end of the Second World War in 1946[4] and have been based there ever since, buying the land back in 1966.

The record attendance is 16,000 who watched the match against the touring 1948 Australians.

International Cricket

There have been three One Day Internationals played at Grace Road, although none have involved England.

In the 1983 Cricket World Cup eventual winners India beat Zimbabwe, chasing a target of 156 to win by 5 wickets.[5] The second and third games were both in the 1999 World Cup. In the second Zimbabwe beat India by three runs[6] and in the third the West Indies beat Scotland by eight wickets.[7]

Dimensions

In front of the wicket at both ends the pitch is measured at 56 metres, whilst square of the wicket on both sides the dimensions are recorded as 76 metres. This is larger than most county grounds, but smaller than some of England's major international venues such as The Oval.

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.leicestershireccc.co.uk/news/2016/january/landmark-deal-sees-ground-become-the-fischer-county-ground-grace-road.html
  2. ↑ Grounds - Grace Road, Leicester
  3. ↑ History of Leicestershire
  4. ↑ Main Developments at Grace Road 1878-2007
  5. ↑ India v Zimbabwe 1983
  6. ↑ India v Zimbabwe 1999
  7. ↑ Scotland v West Indies 1999

Coordinates: 52°36′28.13″N 1°08′33.67″W / 52.6078139°N 1.1426861°W / 52.6078139; -1.1426861

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