Old Trafford Cricket Ground

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Old Trafford
England
Ground information
Location	Old Trafford Stretford Greater Manchester England
Establishment	1857
Seating capacity	19,000 (50,000 for concerts)
End names	Stretford End Brian Statham End
International information
First Test	10 July 1884: England v Australia
Last Test	23 May 2008: England v New Zealand
First ODI	24 August 1972: England v Australia
Last ODI	30 August 2007: England v India
Domestic team information
Years	Team
1865 – present	Lancashire
As of 15 December, 2007 Source: CricketArchive

The Old Trafford Cricket Ground,^[1] usually known as simply Old Trafford, is a cricket ground situated on Talbot Road in Old Trafford, an area of Stretford in Greater Manchester, England that has been the home of Manchester Cricket Club since 1856 and of the Lancashire County Cricket Club since it was founded in 1864. International Test matches have been played there since 1884. Most of Greater Manchester lies within the historic county boundaries of Lancashire.

Contents 1 The ground 2 Notable moments at Old Trafford 3 Future plans 4 Musical venue 5 References 6 See also 7 External links

[edit] The ground

The cricket ground is near the Old Trafford football stadium, (only a five minute walk away down Warwick Road and Sir Matt Busby Way), in the borough of Trafford in Greater Manchester, approximately two miles south west of Manchester city centre. Its capacity is 22,000 for Test matches, for which temporary stands are erected, and 15,000 for other matches. In 1884, Old Trafford became the second Test venue used in England, before Lord's and after The Oval;^[2] it has hosted the 72 Tests, the third highest number in England, behind Lord's and The Oval.^[2]

30,000 fans were locked out on the 5th day of the 3rd Test of the 2005 Ashes series due to a sell-out crowd.^[3]

The two ends of the ground are the Stretford End to the west and the Brian Statham End (formerly the Warwick Road End) to the east, renamed in honour of the former Lancashire and England player. The section of Warwick Road behind this end is also called Brian Statham Way. The three tier members pavilion on Talbot Road is the last surviving Victorian part of the ground. On the other side is the two tier Cyril Washbrook Stand behind which is the Metrolink station.

[edit] Notable moments at Old Trafford

• 1909 - Frank Laver Australian player/manager took 8-31 in the drawn test.
• 1930 - 1948 - Donald Bradman played three Tests at Old Trafford, scoring just 81 runs at 27.00 - his innings being 14 (1930), 30 (1934) and 7 and 30* (1948). He told Bill Frindall that the light was always so bad that he couldn't see the ball.

• 1956 - Jim Laker became the first person to take all 10 wickets in a Test match innings; achieving figures of 10 for 53 in the fourth Test against Australia (the only other bowler to take all 10 wickets is Anil Kumble of India in 1999). Having also taken 9 for 37 in the first innings, Laker ended the match with record figures of 19 for 90, which remain unmatched to this day.

• 1971 - the Gillette Cup semi-final between Lancashire and Gloucestershire was played in near-darkness. With the time approaching 8.45 pm and 25 runs still needed from the five remaining overs, David Hughes walked out to bat. Hughes, somehow seeing well enough, hit 24 off a single over and set up a notable Lancashire victory.

• 1984 - Sir Vivian Richards scored his notable 189 not out for the West Indies in the 1st one-day international for the Texaco Trophy against England. Richards added 106 runs for the last wicket - an unbroken stand to which Michael Holding contributed 12 runs. Richards hammered 21 fours and 5 sixes. When Holding joined Sir Viv at the crease, the West Indies were in a parlous position at 166 for 9, of which Sir Viv had made 98.]

• 1990 - Sachin Tendulkar scored his first Test hundred at the age of 18 to help India draw the Test.

• 1993 - Shane Warne's "Ball of the Century" to Mike Gatting.

• 2005 - The third Test of the Ashes series ended in a draw, with thousands of fans shut out of the ground on the final day as tickets were sold out.

[edit] Future plans

It is planned that the cricket ground will form the centre of an anticipated 750,000 sq ft (70,000 m²) development which will have at its heart a new 25,000 - 30,000 seater stadium on its historic site, with new stands, conferencing and banqueting facilities and hotel, and education, training and other sports opportunities for the local community. The development partners are considering a mixed-use scheme of significant quality with business space, residential, retail, hotel, leisure and other supporting development with a potential end value of £190m. More than 2,000 new jobs could be created by the development.

Preliminary work began on 23 August 2008 to lay new drains - a measure designed to ensure that more games reach their conclusion.^[4] The ground was closed for the rest of the season, with Lancashire CCC's remaining home games transferred to its outfields at Blackpool and Liverpool, and the work was finished by November 2008.^[5]

Further plans were released on 22 September 2008, giving more details of the proposed radical revamp.^[6] These have, to date, been clarified several times, as detailed below. It was envisaged in this report that work would be completed by September 2012, in time for the Ashes series of 2013, with the stadium closed in 2010; it is unclear whether the aim is still to meet this schedule.

The first phase of building work began with the demolition of the County Suite, Tyldesley Suite, 'K' and 'L' Stands and the scoreboard early in 2009,^[5] necessitating the closure of the majority of the Stretford Lane End throughout the 2009 season. This phase, costing £12 million, will result in the creation of several new structures: a new electronic scoreboard, permanent video screen, and permanent floodlights.^[7] Perhaps most significantly, the first of - ultimately - four new buildings, a conference centre designed to straddle the seating to the right of the pavilion, over the site of the old 'L' stand, is now under construction; 'The Point', as this facility has been named, will be able to seat 1000 people simultaneously, and be one of the largest conference facilities in the North West. It is intended that it will be available for a number of purposes - especially conferences and balls - in the same way that the Old Trafford Lodge, currently abutting the other side of the pavilion, acts as a hotel all year round. Completion of the new stand, 'The Point', the new scoreboard and video screen is planned for April 2010.^[8]

Phase 2 of the development is scheduled to begin in September 2010. This second phase will involve moving the wickets to run North-South, instead of East-West; the current situation - unusual in a test ground - has repeatedly caused problems at sunset, and has given rise to the noteworthy position of the pavilion, which is currently parallel to the square rather than, as is more usual, looking along the pitch. This move will also increase the number of available wickets by five, to sixteen. At the same time, a new "Players, Media and Education" Pavilion will be built on the site of the Statham/Washbrook stand; while the present pavilion will gain two modern-style storeys replacing its current roof, it is not clear what this will be used for, or when building work on this particular structure will be undertaken. This second phase, due to the length of time it will take to reorientate the wickets, coupled with the extensive building work, may well involve the closure of the stadium over the 2011 season.^[9]

Further phases are envisaged, involving the construction of two buildings to the left (or east) of the pavilion, similar in design to 'The Point'; their uses and construction dates have not yet been released, but it seems logical to assume that at least one of these would replace the Old Trafford Lodge, which would have to make way for one of the buildings under the current plans.^[6]

[edit] Musical venue

The ground is occasionally used as a venue for large-scale concerts with a maximum capacity of 50,000 (up to 65,000 after re-development) Hometown band Oasis playing there in 2002. Richard Ashcroft performing a homecoming gig, supported by Razorlight, at the ground on 2006-06-17. The day after on 2006-06-18, Foo Fighters played with support from The Strokes, Angels & Airwaves, The Subways and Eagles of Death Metal. On the 28-29 July 2007, Arctic Monkeys hosted and headlined a "mini-festival" on the ground, supported by Supergrass, The Coral, The Parrots and Amy Winehouse.^[10] It was also the venue for the Move Festival which took place between 2002 and 2004, artists who appeared over the three years included Green Day, David Bowie, R.E.M., New Order and Morrissey. The ground also hosted Radiohead on 2008-06-29 as part of their world tour. R.E.M. played the venue again on 2008-08-24 as part of their 'Accelerate' tour. Coldplay have announced that they will be playing there in September 2009. Take That will play five homecoming shows at the stadium in front of 50,000 each night. The Script will be their support acts.

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• Lancashire County Cricket Club in 2005
• List of cricket grounds in England and Wales
• List of Test cricket grounds

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Old Trafford Cricket Ground

• Old Trafford Cricket Ground on Cricinfo
• Old Trafford Cricket Ground on ECB
• Lancashire County Cricket Club

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Coordinates: 53°27′22.85″N 2°17′12.34″W / 53.4563472°N 2.2867611°W / 53.4563472; -2.2867611