Cobham Oval is a

cricket ground 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 ...

in Whangarei,

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

, next to the

Okara Park Okara Park, currently known commercially as Semenoff Stadium (previously known as Toll Stadium due to a sponsorship agreement) is a multi-purpose stadium in Whangarei, New Zealand. It is currently used mostly for rugby union matches and is the ...

rugby stadium. It stages daytime-only first-class and

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 ...

matches. It is the home ground and headquarters of the

Northland cricket team The Northland cricket team represents the Northland region of New Zealand. It competes in the Hawke Cup. History The first mention of cricket in the history of New Zealand is from Northland: a game on the beach at Paihia, in the Bay of Islands, ...

and one of the home grounds for the Northern Districts cricket team. It is named after Lord Cobham, New Zealand's Governor-General from 1957 to 1962.

The old Cobham Oval

A previous ground, also called Cobham Oval, situated about 300 metres to the north of the present ground, was officially opened in February 1961 during the two-day match between Northland and the touring Marylebone Cricket Club team. It staged 11 first-class matches between 1966 and 2001. In the early 2000s, the land was sold and used to build a

Warehouse A warehouse is a building for storing goods. Warehouses are used by manufacturers, importers, exporters, wholesalers, transport businesses, customs, etc. They are usually large plain buildings in industrial parks on the outskirts of cities ...

retail outlet.

The new Cobham Oval

The new Cobham Oval was built in 2005. Its pavilion is modelled on the pavilion at

Lord's Lord's Cricket Ground, commonly known as Lord's, is a cricket venue in St John's Wood, London. Named after its founder, Thomas Lord, it is owned by Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and is the home of Middlesex County Cricket Club, the England and ...

in London. It held its first first-class match in 2009, and as of late 2022 it had staged 26 first-class matches. Cobham Oval became New Zealand's twelfth international cricket venue when a One Day International against

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

was held on Waitangi Day (6 February 2012). It also hosted a One Day International against West Indies on 20 December 2017.

International centuries

Only one international century has been achieved at the ground.

References

External links

Northland Cricket Association
{{Cricket Grounds NZ 2006 establishments in New Zealand Cricket grounds in New Zealand Sport in Whangārei Sports venues in the Northland Region