Botanical Gardens is a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

ground and public reserve in

Nelson Nelson may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Nelson'' (1918 film), a historical film directed by Maurice Elvey * ''Nelson'' (1926 film), a historical film directed by Walter Summers * ''Nelson'' (opera), an opera by Lennox Berkeley to a lib ...

Nelson Region Nelson () is a List of cities in New Zealand, city and Districts of New Zealand, unitary authority on the eastern shores of Tasman Bay at the top of the South Island of New Zealand. It is the oldest city in the South Island and the second-old ...

, New Zealand. It is located in Nelson's town belt, next to Botanical Reserve. The trigonometrical 'Centre of New Zealand', Botanical Hill, is located beside the park. The first recorded cricket match held on the ground came in January 1873 when

played

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

. The ground later held a first-class match when Nelson played

Wellington Wellington is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the third-largest city in New Zealand (second largest in the North Island ...

on 31 December 1883, which Nelson won by 39 runs. Besides cricket, the ground also saw one of the first rugby matches to be played in New Zealand, between

Nelson College Nelson College is the oldest state secondary school in New Zealand, a feat achieved in part thanks to its original inception as a private school. It is an all-boys school in the City of Nelson that teaches from years 9 to 13. In addition, it r ...

and a group of local players on 14 May 1870. After Trafalgar Park's development as Nelson's main sports venue in the 1880s the Botanical Gardens was no longer used for major sports events. The ground, however, has continued to exist, and is used today by Athletic College Old Boys Cricket Club.

References

External links

Botanical Gardens
at

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Botanical Gardens
at CricketArchive {{coord, 41, 16, 26.19, S, 173, 17, 43.94, E, type:landmark_scale:2000_region:NL, display=title 1870s establishments in New Zealand Cricket grounds in New Zealand Rugby union stadiums in New Zealand Sports venues in the Nelson Region Protected areas of the Nelson Region Nelson, New Zealand