Dudley Park 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

Rangiora Rangiora is the largest town and seat of the Waimakariri District, in Canterbury, New Zealand. It is north of Christchurch, and is part of the Christchurch metropolitan area. With an estimated population of Rangiora is the 30th largest urba ...

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. ...

, New Zealand. The park precincts, situated between Church and White Streets, also include an aquatic centre, netball courts and hockey ground. It was the main cricket ground in Rangiora between 1929 and 2004.

History

Dudley Park was developed by the Rangiora Borough Council as a public sports ground in the 1920s, and named after a former owner of the land, Archdeacon Dudley. It was officially opened in May 1928 when two football games and two hockey games were played simultaneously. An artificial cricket pitch was laid down at the ground and the first match was played there in February 1929. The first major match on the ground was between North Canterbury and

Central Otago Central Otago is located in the inland part of the Otago region in the South Island of New Zealand. The motto for the area is "A World of Difference". The area is dominated by mountain ranges and the upper reaches of the Clutha River and tributa ...

in the 1963/64 Hawke Cup. A single Youth

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

was played there in 1987 when New Zealand Young Cricketers played Australia Young Cricketers. The ground first held a

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 in the 1980/81 Shell Cup when

played Central Districts. Canterbury played six further List A matches there, the last of which came in the 1996/97 Shell Cup. Dudley Park has also hosted

first-class matches First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is one of three or more days' scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officiall ...

, the first of which saw Canterbury play

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) 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 second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in the 1984/85

Shell Trophy New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

. Fourteen further first-class matches have been held there, the last of which saw Canterbury play Wellington in the 2002/03

State Championship New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

. The ground has twice held the final of the Shell Trophy, with Canterbury winning on both occasions. Two

Women's One Day International Women's One Day International (WODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...

s have been played at Dudley Park, the first came in the 1982 Women's World Cup when

New Zealand Women New is an adjective referring to something recently made, discovered, or created. New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz Albums and EPs * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator ...

played Australia Women, while the second saw Australia Women play

England Women The England women's cricket team represents England and Wales in international women's cricket. Since 1998, they have been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by the Women's Cricket Association ...

in the 1991/92 Shell Tri-Series. The ground was also used a home venue for Canterbury Women in the State League between the 1998/99 and 2002/03 seasons. Dudley Park was the main cricket ground in Rangiora between 1929 and 2004, when cricket's local base moved to

Rangiora Recreation Ground Rangiora Recreation Ground (also known as the MainPower Oval through a sponsorship deal with local company MainPower) is a cricket ground in Rangiora, Canterbury, New Zealand, Canterbury, New Zealand. The Recreation Ground is recorded as being i ...

References

External links

Dudley Park
at

ESPNcricinfo 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 ...

Dudley Park
at CricketArchive {{coord, 43, 18, 24.73, S, 172, 35, 17.61, E, type:landmark_scale:2000_region:NL, display=title Cricket grounds in New Zealand Sports venues in Canterbury, New Zealand Rangiora