Boughton Hall Cricket Club Ground is 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

Boughton, Cheshire Boughton is a neighbourhood to the east of Chester city centre, part of the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. It is located atop the steep banks of the River Dee as it turns the me ...

. The ground is located in grounds which formerly belonged to

Boughton Hall Boughton Hall is a former country house in Boughton, to the east of the city of Chester, Cheshire, England. It is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building. History The original house on the site is thought to have be ...

. The ground is located off Boughton Hall Avenue, with the

Shropshire Union Canal The Shropshire Union Canal, nicknamed the "Shroppie", is a navigable canal in England. The Llangollen and Montgomery canals are the modern names of branches of the Shropshire Union (SU) system and lie partially in Wales. The canal lies in ...

to the north. The ground is used by

Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club (often called Chester BH) is a cricket club that is based in Boughton, Chester, England. The club has four senior XIs playing Saturday sides that compete in the Cheshire County Cricket League of which the 1s ...

History

The first recorded match held on the ground was in 1886, when Boughton Hall played Huyton.

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

first used the ground in 1910 when they played

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship (previously the Minor Counties Cricket Championship) is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national cou ...

. Prior to and after

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

, Cheshire played a match annually at the ground, until

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. Following the war Cheshire returned to the ground in 1951, however this would be their last match there until 1970. In 1972, the ground was selected as a home venue for Minor Counties North in the

1972 Benson & Hedges Cup The 1972 Benson & Hedges Cup was the first competing of cricket's Benson & Hedges Cup. The competition was won by Leicestershire County Cricket Club. Fixtures and results Group stage Midlands Group Northern Group Southern Group Western G ...

, where the team played a single

List A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numbe ...

match against

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 ...

. From 1970 to 1988, the ground held one Minor Counties Championship match annually. Cheshire played their first List A match at the venue in the first round of the

1988 NatWest Trophy The 1988 NatWest Trophy was the 8th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 22 June and 3 September 1988. The tournament was won by Middlesex who defeated Worcestershire by 3 wickets in t ...

, which saw them record a famous victory against first-class opponents

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

. However, Cheshire lost their second round match held at Boughton Hall against

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

. The following season, Cheshire played a further List A match there against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English citi ...

in the

1989 NatWest Trophy The 1989 NatWest Trophy was the 9th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 28 June and 2 September 1989. The tournament was won by Warwickshire who defeated Middlesex by 4 wickets in the ...

, which ended in defeat. Cheshire played their first MCCA Knockout Trophy match there in 1992 against Northumberland, with Minor Counties Championship cricket returning there in 1993 when

Dorset Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset (unitary authority), Dors ...

visited the ground. List A cricket returned to the ground in the

1995 NatWest Trophy The 1995 NatWest Trophy was the 15th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 27 June and 2 September 1995. The tournament was won by Warwickshire County Cricket Club who defeated Northampt ...

when

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

defeated Cheshire, while in the

1998 NatWest Trophy The 1998 NatWest Trophy was the 18th NatWest Trophy. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 24 June and 5 September 1998. The tournament was won by Lancashire County Cricket Club who defeated Derbyshire C ...

the same opponents visited, with Essex once again triumphing. The ground was used infrequently by Cheshire in minor counties during the 1990s. Cheshire's first match there in the 21st century came against

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-west, Leicestershire ...

in a List A match in the

2000 NatWest Trophy The 2000 NatWest Trophy was the 20th and last NatWest Trophy before being renamed as the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy for the 2001 season. It was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 2 May and 26 August 200 ...

, which Lincolnshire won. The ground held its final List A match in first round of the

2002 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy The 2002 Cheltenham and Gloucester Trophy was an English limited overs county cricket tournament which was held between 29 August 2001 and 31 August 2002. It was the second Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, following its change of name from the Na ...

when Cheshire played the Lancashire Cricket Board, with the match held in 2001 to avoid fixture congestion in 2002. Cheshire won by 8 wickets. Cheshire played a total of seven List A matches at the ground, winning two and losing five. Minor counties cricket returned in 2003, with Cheshire playing a single Minor Counties Championship match annually since then. Three MCCA Knockout Trophy matches have been played there since 2007, all with

Devon Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devon is ...

as the opposition.

Records

List A

* Highest team total: 306/2 (60 overs) by

, 1989 * Lowest team total: 92 (36.5 overs) by Cheshire v

, 1998 * Highest individual innings: 159 by Chris Smith for Hampshire v Cheshire, 1989 * Best bowling in an innings: 5/8 by

Graham Gooch Graham Alan Gooch, (born 23 July 1953) is a former English first-class cricketer who captained Essex and England. He was one of the most successful international batsmen of his generation, and through a career spanning from 1973 until 2000, h ...

for Essex v Cheshire, 1995

Gallery

File:Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club (10).JPG, View of the pavilion. File:Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club (11).JPG, View of the ground looking north. File:Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club (9).JPG, View of the ground looking east. File:Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club (2).JPG, Wider view of the ground. File:Chester Boughton Hall Cricket Club (3).JPG, Practice nets at the ground.

References

External links

Boughton Hall Cricket Club Ground
at CricketArchive

at

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