Botanical Gardens Cricket Ground was a

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

ground in

Old Trafford Old Trafford () is a football stadium in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England, and the home of Manchester United. With a capacity of 74,310 it is the largest club football stadium (and second-largest football stadium overall after Wemb ...

Stretford Stretford is a market town in Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It is situated on flat ground between the River Mersey and the Manchester Ship Canal, south of Manchester city centre, south of Salford and north-east of Altrincham. Str ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. The ground was located adjacent to

Manchester Botanical Garden White City is a retail park on Chester Road in Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. At the southeast corner of the docks area and southeast of Manchester United's ground, it is the site of the former Manchester Botanic Gardens which host ...

. The ground was on land owned by

Sir Humphrey de Trafford Sir Humphrey de Trafford, 2nd Baronet (1 May 1808 – 4 May 1886) was a prominent English Catholic. Born at Croston Hall near Chorley, Lancashire on 1 May 1808, he was the fourth child and the eldest son of Sir Thomas de Trafford. Early lif ...

, who allowed

Manchester Cricket Club Manchester Cricket Club was founded in 1816 and was a direct forerunner of Lancashire County Cricket Club which was founded in 1864. Manchester matches are classified with first-class cricket between 1844 and 1858, after which it was superseded by ...

to lease the ground. The first recorded match that is now considered to have been first-class on the ground was in 1848, when Manchester Cricket Club played

Sheffield Cricket Club The Sheffield Cricket Club was founded in the 18th century and soon began to play a key role in the development of cricket in northern England. It was the direct forerunner of Yorkshire County Cricket Club and some of the teams fielded by Sheffi ...

. The following season a Lancashire team played a team from Yorkshire. In 1851, a Lancashire side played their second and final first-class match at the ground in a repeat of the previous first-class fixture there involving. Manchester Cricket Club played two further first-class matches at the ground in 1852 and then 1854, both coming against Sheffield Cricket Club. The final recorded match held on the ground came in 1856 when Manchester Cricket Club played rugby.Other matches played on Botanical Gardens
/ref> Shortly after the ground was developed for the 1857 Art Treasures Exhibition. Later, the location of the ground became a

motorcycle speedway Motorcycle speedway, usually referred to simply as speedway, is a motorcycle sport involving four and sometimes up to six riders competing over four anti-clockwise laps of an oval circuit. The motorcycles are specialist machines that use only ...

venue before closing in 1982. Today the location of the ground is covered by the White City Retail Centre.

References

External links

Botanical Gardens Cricket Ground
on CricketArchive

on

Cricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a d ...

{{coord, 53.46184, N, 2.28402, W, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title Defunct cricket grounds in England Cricket grounds in Greater Manchester Sports venues in Manchester Defunct sports venues in Greater Manchester Sports venues completed in 1848 1848 establishments in England