Hitchin 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

Hitchin Hitchin () is a market town and unparished area in the North Hertfordshire Districts of England, district in Hertfordshire, England, with an estimated population of 35,842. History Hitchin is first noted as the central place of the Hicce peopl ...

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

, England. The first recorded match on the ground was in 1877, when

played

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 ...

. Hertfordshire played their first

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 ...

match on the ground in 1908 against

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. Hertfordshire used the ground until 1914, and following a 37-year break from the ground, it returned in 1951. From 1914 to 1998, the ground played host to 38 Minor Counties Championship matches and 2

MCCA Knockout Trophy The National Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the National Counties in English cricket. At first it was known as the ''English Industrial Estates Cup'', before being called the ...

matches. The ground has also hosted

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, the first of which came in the

1966 Gillette Cup The 1966 Gillette Cup was the fourth Gillette Cup, an English limited overs county cricket tournament. It was held between 28 April and 3 September 1966. The tournament was won by Warwickshire County Cricket Club in the final at Lord's. Format ...

between Hertfordshire and

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

. From 1966 to 1989, the ground held 8 List-A matches, the last of which was between Hertfordshire and

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated Notts.) is a landlocked county in the East Midlands region of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. The traditi ...

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 ...

. The most famous List-A match on the ground saw Hertfordshire defeat first-class county Essex in the

1976 Gillette Cup The 1976 Gillette Cup was the fourteenth Gillette Cup, an English limited overs county cricket tournament. It was held between 26 June and 4 September 1976. The tournament was won by Northamptonshire County Cricket Club who defeated Lancashire C ...

. In local domestic cricket, Hitchin Cricket Club Ground is the home ground of Hitchin Cricket Club.Hitchin Cricket Club
/ref> They play in the

Hertfordshire Cricket League The Hertfordshire Cricket League is a league cricket competition based in the county of Hertfordshire, England. Since 2015 it has been a designated ECB Premier League, the highest level of recreational club cricket in England and Wales. History ...

, their best position being in 1976 and in 2009 when they came second. The club shares their ground with the Blueharts Hockey Club and Hitchin Lacrosse Club. In 1988, the club constructed a second pitch at the ground. Perhaps the biggest claim to fame for the club was in 1994, when the

New Zealand cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...

started their tour of England with a match against Hitchin. The ground was also the scene of

Hertfordshire County Cricket Club Hertfordshire County Cricket Club is one of twenty minor county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Hertfordshire. The team is currently a member of the Minor Counties Champio ...

's victory over

Essex County Cricket Club Essex County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Essex. Founded in 1876, the club had minor county status until 1894 when ...

in the 1976 Gillette Cup - the first time a minor county had defeated a first class county in a major competition.

References

External links

Hitchin Town Cricket Club Ground
on CricketArchive

on

Cricinfo 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 d ...

Hertfordshire Cricket League
{{Hertfordshire CCC Cricket grounds in Hertfordshire Field hockey venues in England Lacrosse venues Hitchin Buildings and structures in Hitchin Sports venues completed in 1877 1877 establishments in England