Eastern Oval 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 the city of

Ballarat Ballarat ( ) is a city in the Central Highlands (Victoria), Central Highlands of Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia. At the 2021 Census, Ballarat had a population of 116,201, making it the third largest city in Victoria. Estimated resid ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The first recorded match on the ground in 1862 when Ballarat played HH Stephenson's XI. The ground was an important early centre of cricket in Victoria, hosting the Australia team, as well as personal teams from important cricketing figures such as George Parr,

W. G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

and

John Lillywhite John Lillywhite (born 10 November 1826 at Hove, Sussex; died 27 October 1874 at St Pancras, London) was an English cricketer and umpire during the game's roundarm era. John Lillywhite was part of a famous cricketing family, his father bein ...

to name a few. The oval is characterised by its steep grassy embankments, historic timber grandstand, and large trees that surround the playing field. It remains popular as a sports venue in Ballarat because of its intimacy, closeness to the city centre, and historic character.

Cricket

More than a hundred years later the ground held its first First-Class match when

played an England XI in a List A match in 1985. The only first-class match to be held there to date was played in 1990 when Victoria played an England XI. The ground was selected as a venue for the

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (officially the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992) was the fifth staging of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was held in Australia and New Zealand from 22 February to 25 Mar ...

, staging a

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 ...

between

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka (, ; si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා, Śrī Laṅkā, translit-std=ISO (); ta, இலங்கை, Ilaṅkai, translit-std=ISO ()), formerly known as Ceylon and officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, is an ...

. This match resulted in an England win by 106 runs. Two further List A matches have been held there, one in the 2003/03 ING Cup between Victoria and

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

and another between the same teams in the following season's competition. The Oval will host 4 Games as part of the 2021-22 Women's Big Bash League season, Including a Melbourne Derby between the

Melbourne Renegades The Melbourne Renegades are an Australian professional men's Twenty20 franchise cricket club based in Melbourne, the capital city of the Australian state of Victoria. They compete in the Australian Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash ...

and the

Melbourne Stars The Melbourne Stars are an Australian Twenty20 franchise cricket team, based in Melbourne, Victoria that competes in Australia's Twenty20 competition, the Big Bash League. The Stars wear a green uniform and play their home matches at the Melb ...

Modern Development

In February 2015 the Ballarat City Council released its Master Plan for the 10 year development of the oval projected to cost $4.2 million (AUD). In 2016 $1 million of works had been completed including a new netball court with lighting, synthetic bowling green and synthetic cricket training facility. In February 2017, Cricket Victoria and the Ballarat City Council announced that the ground will receive a further $2 million (AUD) upgrade to develop it as one of eight State cricketing hubs. This project includes the upgrade of oval lighting to Cricket Australia's class two standard (300 lux to outfield and 500 lux to centre wicket), development of new turf wicket training facilities and redevelopment of the existing change facilities to make them female friendly.

Australian Rules Football

The venue was home to the East Ballarat Football Club before the Club merged with Golden Point FC in 2001 to form the

East Point Football Club The East Point Football Netball Club is an Australian rules football and netball club. The football squad competes in the Ballarat Football League. The club, originally named "East Point Kangaroos" was formed in 2001 when historical clubs Eas ...

, which now uses the oval as its home. The ground is currently used to host most Ballarat Football and Netball League finals games. The oval was also periodically used by the

Australian Football League The Australian Football League (AFL) is the only fully professional competition of Australian rules football. Through the AFL Commission, the AFL also serves as the sport's governing body and is responsible for controlling the laws of the gam ...

for pre-season games until 2017, when the

Western Bulldogs The Western Bulldogs are a professional Australian rules football team that competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), the sport's premier competition. Founded in 1877 as the Footscray Football Club, and based in West Footscray in the o ...

committed to playing two to three games each season at

Eureka Stadium Eureka Stadium, known commercially as Mars Stadium, is an oval shaped sports stadium located in the Eureka Sports Precinct of Wendouree, north of the CBD of the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia. History The first permanent oval used by t ...

References

External links

Eastern Oval
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 ...

Eastern Oval
at CricketArchive {{coord, 37, 33, 27.88, S, 143, 51, 48.75, E, type:landmark_scale:2000_region:NL, display=title Cricket grounds in Australia 1992 Cricket World Cup stadiums Sports venues in Victoria (state) Buildings and structures in Ballarat Sports venues completed in 1862 1862 establishments in Australia