Albert Cricket Ground

Albert Cricket Ground
Albert Cricket Ground in 2014
Former names Warehouseman's Cricket Ground
Location St Kilda, Victoria
Coordinates 37°50′43″S 144°58′39″E / 37.84528°S 144.97750°E / -37.84528; 144.97750Coordinates: 37°50′43″S 144°58′39″E / 37.84528°S 144.97750°E / -37.84528; 144.97750
Operator Melbourne Cricket Club
Field size 145m × 130m
Surface Grass
Tenants
Melbourne Cricket Club
Lawn Tennis Association of Victoria (until the 1920s)
Melbourne Stars (WBBL)

Albert Cricket Ground, also known as the Albert Reserve and previously as the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground, is a cricket ground in St Kilda, Victoria. It is operated by the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC), and used as its primary home ground in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition.

Cricket

The Melbourne Cricket Club has held the lease for the Warehouseman's Ground since 1890. It has been the primary home venue for its cricket team in the Victorian District/Premier Cricket competition since that time.[1] The venue is one of the primary finals venue in the premier cricket competition, and hosted the first XI district/premier cricket final almost every year from 1953/54 until the early 21st century;[2] it currently hosts the final of the second XIs.

The venue has never hosted a first-class cricket match; in 2003, it was to have hosted its first List A match, a tour match between Australia A and South Africa A,[3] but the match was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain.[4]

Top level women's cricket has been played on the ground.[5] One women's Test match was played at the ground between Australia and New Zealand in January 1979,[6] and the Rose Bowl series of Women's One Day International matches in 1988–89,[7] 1990–91,[8] and on three occasions in 1999–2000.[9][10][11][12][13]

The venue has one pavilion, the Clive Fairbairn Pavilion, named after MCC player, administrator and life member Clive Fairbairn.[14]

Tennis

In 1905 the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground hosted the first edition of the Australasian Championships, the tournament which later became the Australian Open; lawn tennis at that time was administered in Victoria by the Melbourne Cricket Club. Rodney Heath defeated fellow Australian Arthur Curtis in four sets to claim the inaugural title. The venue hosted the Australasian Championships under the auspices of the MCC and later the Lawn Tennis Association of Victoria a total of four times: in 1905, 1911,[15] 1914[16] and 1924[17] – as well as the 1908 and 1912 Davis Cup finals,[2] before Kooyong became the primary venue for lawn tennis in Melbourne.

A set of public tennis courts remains available at Albert Reserve to the north of the cricket ground.

Other sports

The Melbourne Cricket Club lacrosse team has its training and playing base at the Albert Cricket Ground;[18] the club's baseball team also used the venue until 1976.[1]

Football has been played on the ground in the past. The original Prahran Football Club, which played senior football in the Victorian Football Association in 1886 and 1887 before amalgamating with St Kilda, played its home matches at the ground in 1886; and the Melbourne Football Club (which was a part of the MCC) played some games there after 1890. The ground is not used for football today.[1]

Notes

  1. 1 2 3 Vin Maskell (11 March 2012). "Albert Cricket Ground, Victoria, Australia". Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  2. 1 2 Santo Caruso; Marc Fiddian; Jim Main (2002), Football Grounds of Melbourne, Essendon North, VIC: Pennon Publishing, p. 8
  3. ↑ "South Africa A to travel to Australia for April series". CricInfo. 6 February 2003. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  4. ↑ "Australia A v South Africa A". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  5. ↑ "Other matches played on Albert Ground, Melbourne". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  6. ↑ "Women's Test Matches played on Albert Ground, Melbourne". Cricket Archive. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  7. ↑ "12th match: Australia Women v New Zealand Women at Melbourne, Dec 10, 1988". Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  8. ↑ "3rd ODI: Australia Women v New Zealand Women at Melbourne, Jan 20, 1991". Cricinfo. Retrieved 24 July 2009.
  9. ↑ "1st ODI: Australia Women v New Zealand Women at Melbourne, Feb 6, 2000". Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  10. ↑ "2nd ODI: Australia Women v New Zealand Women at Perth, Feb 8, 2000". Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  11. ↑ "3rd ODI: Australia Women v New Zealand Women at Perth, Feb 9, 2000". Cricinfo. Retrieved 22 July 2009.
  12. ↑ Eyre, Rick (6 February 2000). "Australia go one-up in Rose Bowl". CricInfo. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  13. ↑ Eyre, Rick (8 February 2000). "Australia regain the Rose Bowl". CricInfo. Retrieved 26 July 2009.
  14. ↑ Shane Brown (20 May 2010). "Clive Lindsay Fairbairn OAM". The Age. Melbourne, VIC. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
  15. ↑ "Tennis Championships.". The Argus (Melbourne, Vic. : 1848 - 1956). Melbourne, Vic.: National Library of Australia. 27 November 1911. p. 10. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  16. ↑ "Tennis Championships". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. 30 November 1924. p. 5.
  17. ↑ "Championship tennis". The Argus. Melbourne, VIC. 21 January 1924. p. 11.
  18. ↑ "Lacrosse". Melbourne Cricket Club. Retrieved 23 March 2014.
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