Guaracara 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 ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

ground owned and operated by

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

's state enterprise that primarily deals with the refining of crude petroleum,

Petrotrin Petroleum Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (Petrotrin) was a state-owned oil company in Trinidad and Tobago. Its principal activities were the exploration, development and production of hydrocarbons in addition to the manufacturing and mark ...

. It is located within the confines of their oil refinery at

Pointe-à-Pierre Pointe-à-Pierre ( ) is a town in Trinidad and Tobago. It lies north of San Fernando and south of Claxton Bay. It is most famous as the site of the country's largest (and now, only) oil refinery which used to be run by Petrotrin, the state-owned ...

. The ground is situated on the northern bank of the

Guaracara River The Guaracara River, located in south Trinidad, runs westward approximately 30 km long, out of the Central Range and drains into the Gulf of Paria. It forms the boundary between the city of San Fernando (to the south) and the Couva-Tabaquite-Tal ...

. The oil refinery with its

gas flare A gas flare, alternatively known as a flare stack, flare boom, ground flare, or flare pit is a gas combustion device used in places such as petroleum refineries, chemical plants and natural gas processing plants, oil or gas extraction sites havin ...

is clearly visible from the ground.

History

Between 1960 and 2011, 75 matches of

first-class cricket 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 ...

were played at Guaracara Park. It was first used in representative cricket in 1947–48 when the touring MCC played a one-day match against South Trinidad. In 1948, it replaced Skinner Park in

San Fernando San Fernando may refer to: People *Ferdinand III of Castile (c. 1200–1252), called ''San Fernando'' (Spanish) or ''Saint Ferdinand'', King of Castile, León, and Galicia Places Argentina *San Fernando de la Buena Vista, city of Greater Buenos ...

as South Trinidad's home ground in matches for the

Beaumont Cup The Beaumont Cup was a Trinidadian first-class cricket competition which regional sides competed for, the matches taking place over three days. History The competition began in 1925–26, when Rolland Beaumont, the South African Test player who ...

. The first match of first-class cricket at Guaracara Park was played between

Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...

and MCC in 1959–60, when David Allen took 7 for 33 and 3 for 30 to give MCC victory on a pitch helpful to the spin bowlers. From 1960 to 1985 first-class matches in the Beaumont Cup and Texaco Cup were played there, along with several first-class matches between Trinidad and touring international teams between 1960 and 2000. Trinidad has played

Regional Four Day Competition The Regional Four Day Competition, formerly known as Shell Shield and Carib Beer Cup, is the First Class Cricket, first-class cricket competition in the West Indian cricket team, West Indies. It is administered by the Cricket West Indies. In t ...

matches at Guaracara Park since 1981–82, including the finals in 1995–96, 2005–05 and 2006–07. The highest score at the ground, and only double-century, is 202 by

Phil Simmons Philip Verant Simmons (born 18 April 1963) is a Trinidadian cricket coach and former cricketer who was an all-rounder played as an opening batsman, a medium-fast bowler and a slip fielder. He is the current coach of the West Indies cricket ...

for Trinidad against

Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. Guyana is an indigenous word which means "Land of Many Waters". The capital city is Georgetown. Guyana is bordered by the ...

in 1991–92. The best innings bowling figures are 8 for 27 by

Prince Bartholomew Prince Charles Smith Bartholomew (9 October 1939 – 25 April 2017) was a Trinidad cricketer who played first-class cricket from 1969 to 1978. An opening bowler and middle-order batsman, Bartholomew made his first-class debut in 1968-69. He ...

for North and East Trinidad against South and Central Trinidad in 1975–76, and the best match figures are 13 for 74 (6 for 45 and 7 for 29) by

Stuart MacGill Stuart Charles Glyndwr MacGill (born 25 February 1971) is an Australian former cricketer who played 44 Test matches and three One Day Internationals for the Australian national cricket team. He is a right-arm leg spin bowler, who has been cred ...

for the

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

against the West Indies Board President's XI in 1998–99.Most wickets in a match at Guaracara Park
/ref> Until the installation of floodlights at the

Queens Park Oval The Queen's Park Oval is a sports stadium in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago, used mostly for cricket matches. It opened in 1896. Privately owned by the Queen's Park Cricket Club, it is currently the second largest capacity cricket ground in ...

in 2008, all of Trinidad and Tobago's domestic limited-overs night matches took place at Guaracara Park due to the availability of floodlights there. Guaracara Park has now been superseded as southern Trinidad's major cricket venue by the

Brian Lara Cricket Academy The Brian Lara Cricket Academy is a multi-purpose stadium in Tarouba, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago, that was completed and inaugurated in 2017. It will be used mostly for cricket matches. It is located in southern Trinidad, just outside t ...

ground, about two kilometres to the southeast, which began hosting major cricket matches in 2017.

References

{{reflist, 30em

External links

First-class matches at Guaracara Park
Cricket grounds in Trinidad and Tobago Football venues in Trinidad and Tobago