What cricket grounds in the world do you think are famous? Or you’ve been there and they mean something to you?
That’s a question I tried to answer a few years back when I created a list of the most famous sporting stadia in the world and since then, I’ve been on a Tom Cruise-esqe mission impossible to visit them all.
Last time out I explained why I’d chosen 8 football venues and why a few others didn’t make it. The Millenium Stadium might feel a bit left out but it’s not my fault it wasn’t built when I created the list!
So without further ado, here’s what was selected to represent cricket on the list – there aren’t as many as football but that’s simply down to the fact there aren’t as many cricket grounds as football stadiums.
The Cricket List
Lords (London, England): The Wembley stadium of the sport and is known as “the home of cricket”. Named after it’s founder (Thomas Lord) and is also the home of the MCC. England are particularly rubbish here and usually lose, one of the reasons the first test of the Ashes 09 series has been moved to Cardiff.
Edgbaston (Birmingham, England): As bad as England are at Lords they are good at Edgbaston. When the list was created I lived 5 minutes walk away from it so it got put onto the list to get some easy points.
MCG (Melbourne, Australia): If I could pick one holiday destination it would be christmas in Melbourne to watch the boxing day test there. It’s also one of the 7 wonders of the sporting world so a no-brainer as to including it.
Antigua Recreation Ground (Antigua, West Indies): Brian Lara has scored a 375 and a 400 there. Viv Richards hit the fastest test hundred and Gravy used to be in residence there so it’s on the list.
Newlands (Cape Town, South Africa): There aren’t many cricket grounds in the world like Newlands. Table Mountain stands watch over proceedings and was one of the first grounds I thought of when going through this whole process.
Eden Gardens (Kolkata, India): It’s a cauldron and the atmosphere is amazing. It was also where India came back from the brink to beat Australia in 2000/2001 and everyone loves watching the Aussies get beat.
Notable mentions
Headingley (Leeds, England): This one almost made it onto the list at the expense of Edgbaston down to Ian Botham’s heroics in 1981 (and Graham Dilley – everyone forgets Graham Dilley).
Wanderers Stadium (Johannesburg, South Africa): Hosted the greatest one day international of all time with South Africa chasing down 434 to thrash Australia.
The Oval (London, England): Devon Malcolm destroyed South Africa here in 1994. Legendary stuff from the man who said “You guys are history”. Love it.
That’s cricket done and dusted and I’d like to hear your thoughts on it – are there grounds that should be on it and have I included a few that shouldn’t?
If you can do better than my score of 4, and you should because 4 isn’t that impressive, let me know and I’ll create a leaderboard!
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Tags: australia, brian lara, Cricket, edgbaston, england, graham dilley, lords, richard ellison, south africa, west indies
Nice article, although I’m more impressed that it’s working on my phone!
Well, I am not a cricket aficionado, however, I HAVE been to The SWALEC Stadium, Cardiff. The venue of the first Ashes Test for 2009.
Ok, I was not there FOR the Ashes, but I did watch the Glamorgan vs Northsomewhereorother Twenty-20 match.
I was facinated by the biomechanics of the spin from the bowler etc. But after 20 minutes of talking about that, I found great entertainment in a chap who had his hat pinched and saw it being thrown about the stands so he could not get it back. Talk about entertainment. In the end the head security chap stole the hat and hid it!