The Magdalen Ground (also known as the Old Magdalen Ground) was 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
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
, England. The ground was owned by the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
and used by
Magdalen College
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the st ...
, a
constituent college
A collegiate university is a university in which functions are divided between a central administration and a number of constituent colleges. Historically, the first collegiate university was the University of Paris and its first college was the C ...
of the University of Oxford. Originally forming the northern point of
Cowley Marsh, the ground was initially associated with the
Magdalen College School, whose students played cricket there. By 1829, the
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club (OUCC), which represents the University of Oxford, has always held first-class status since 1827 when it made its debut in the inaugural University Match between OUCC and Cambridge University Cricket Club (CUCC). ...
had been given a part of the marsh where the College School played cricket. In 1851, it was purchased at auction by the University of Oxford and leased to the University Cricket Club. The ground operated as a
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 ...
venue from 1829 to 1880, hosting 69 first-class matches. The University Cricket Club left the ground following the 1880 season to play at the
University Parks
The Oxford University Parks, commonly referred to locally as the University Parks, or just The Parks, is a large parkland area slightly northeast of the city centre in Oxford, England. The park is bounded to the east by the River Cherwell, thoug ...
from 1881.
History
Background
Cricket had been played by students at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
since at least 1764, by members of the
Bullingdon Club
The Bullingdon Club is a private all-male dining club for Oxford University students. It is known for its wealthy members, grand banquets, and bad behaviour, including vandalism of restaurants and students' rooms. The club is known to select it ...
on their
Bullingdon Green
Bullingdon Green was a cricket ground south of Oxford, England. It was associated with the Bullingdon Club and was an important site in the early history of cricket in Oxford. The ground operated as a first-class cricket venue in 1843, hosting ...
ground. However, the hosting of cricket matches became less favourable at Bullingdon Green, given its relative remoteness from
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
and its reputation for unsupervised social gatherings, to which playing cricket was secondary. The distance and a serious need to focus on cricket necessitated the requirement for a cricket ground closer to Oxford. The land on which the Magdalen Ground is situated was formerly part of
Cowley Marsh. Cricket was first played there when the Reverend H. Jenkins of the
Magdalen College School took his students there to play
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 ...
. By 1829, he had handed over part of the ground to the
Oxford University Cricket Club
Oxford University Cricket Club (OUCC), which represents the University of Oxford, has always held first-class status since 1827 when it made its debut in the inaugural University Match between OUCC and Cambridge University Cricket Club (CUCC). ...
, and the Magdalen Ground was established; the College School still continued to play at the ground alongside the University Club for a number of years after; hence, it is from this that the ground gets its name, and not
Magdalen College
Magdalen College (, ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. It was founded in 1458 by William of Waynflete. Today, it is the fourth wealthiest college, with a financial endowment of £332.1 million as of 2019 and one of the st ...
.
First-class venue
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 ...
was first played at the ground in the second playing of
The University Match
The University Match in a cricketing context is generally understood to refer to the annual fixture between Oxford University Cricket Club and Cambridge University Cricket Club.
From 2001, as part of the reorganisation of first-class cricket, ...
between
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
played
Cambridge University
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
in 1829,
which Oxford won by 115 runs. The
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...
(MCC) first played at the ground in 1832, with a side that featured
Jem Broadbridge
James "Jem" Broadbridge (1795–1843) was an English professional cricketer who is widely considered the outstanding all-rounder in England during the 1820s. He played mainly for Sussex teams and made 102 known appearances in first-class cric ...
,
William Lillywhite
Frederick William Lillywhite (13 June 1792 – 21 August 1854) was an English first-class cricketer during the game's roundarm era. One of the main protagonists in the legalisation of roundarm, he was one of the most successful bowlers of his ...
, and
Ned Wenman
Edward Gower "Ned" Wenman (18 August 1803 – 28 December 1879) was an English first-class cricketer whose career spanned the 1825 to 1854 seasons. A specialist wicket-keeper, he was a prominent member of the great Kent team of the 1840s which a ...
. This match marked the beginning of the MCC's long association with the Magdalen Ground, typically playing a "grand match" there against Oxford annually until 1880.
Neither the College School nor the University Cricket Club formerly owned the land, which by 1850 remained a part of Cowley Marsh. Under an
Enclosure Act
The Inclosure Acts, which use an archaic spelling of the word now usually spelt "enclosure", cover enclosure of open fields and common land in England and Wales, creating legal property rights to land previously held in common. Between 1604 and 1 ...
, the land which made up Cowley Marsh was put up for auction by the Parish of
Cowley. It was purchased under the
Vice-Chancellorship of
Frederick Charles Plumptre for the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
, with an Act of Convocation dated 30 May 1851 authorising the purchase for the special purpose of enabling members of the university to play cricket.
The following month, an agreement was signed between Plumptre and
William Ridding, steward of the University Cricket Club, to let the ground the cricket club, enabling them to become permanent lessees of an enclosed cricket ground; this began a trend for other colleges to become lessees of their own enclosed grounds within Oxford.
The most famous first-class match held on the ground came in 1877 when Oxford played the MCC. Played before a large crowd and fair, but cold, weather, Oxford won the toss and elected to bat. They were dismissed for 12 runs in 43.2 four ball
overs in their first innings, which remains the
second lowest first-class score of all time;
Fred Morley
Frederick Morley (16 December 1850 – 28 September 1884) was a professional cricketer who was reckoned to be the fastest bowler in England during his prime. During a 13-year career for Nottinghamshire and England he took 1,274 wickets at an ...
, who would go on to play
Test cricket
Test cricket is a form of first-class cricket played at international level between teams representing full member countries of the International Cricket Council (ICC). A match consists of four innings (two per team) and is scheduled to last fo ...
for
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 ...
, took figures of 7 for 6 in the Oxford first innings and figures of 6 for 8 in their second innings. His return of 13 for 14 remains the most outstanding match analysis of all time.
By the 1870s, it was an opinion amongst Oxford cricketers that the cricket facilities at the
University of Cambridge
, mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts.
Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge.
, established =
, other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...
, with their ground at
Fenner's
Fenner's is Cambridge University Cricket Club's ground.
History
Cambridge University Cricket Club had previously played at two grounds in Cambridge, the University Ground and Parker's Piece. In 1846, Francis Fenner leased a former cherry orchar ...
, were better than those that Oxford possessed at the Magdalen Ground; the
pavilion
In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings:
* It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...
at the Magdalen Ground dated from its foundation and did not afford the comforts and conveniences expected of a modern cricket facility of the time.
Ranjitsinhji
Colonel H. H. Shri Sir Ranjitsinhji Vibhaji II, Jam Saheb of Nawanagar, (10 September 1872 – 2 April 1933), often known as Ranji or K. S. Ranjitsinhji, was the ruler of the Indian princely state of Nawanagar from 1907 to 1933, as Mah ...
described the turf at the ground as "magnificent", but that it required fine weather to remain so; with the Oxford cricket season being played mostly in the spring, the ground was often wet and flooding could occur; the 1843 University Match had to be moved to Bullingdon Green due to this problem. Chief amongst complaints from students was that they found the location of the ground was inconveniently situated from the main buildings of the university.
Therefore, with the encouragement of the Vice-Chancellor The Reverend
Evan Evans, a petition was started by Ranjitsinhji (then treasurer of the University Cricket Club) for the cricket club to move to a new ground in the north of Oxford at the
University Parks
The Oxford University Parks, commonly referred to locally as the University Parks, or just The Parks, is a large parkland area slightly northeast of the city centre in Oxford, England. The park is bounded to the east by the River Cherwell, thoug ...
. This was realised in 1881, when the cricket club left the Magdalen Ground for the University Parks.
Up until that point, the ground had played host to 69 first-class matches.
Later use
After the departure of the University Cricket Club, minor matches continued to be played by Magdalen Cricket Club and Cowley St. John Cricket Club. In the 1890s, the ground was a venue for inter–college
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 ...
matches. During the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
, there were talks to turn the ground over to agricultural use to help negate the growing food shortages caused by the German policy of
unrestricted submarine warfare
Unrestricted submarine warfare is a type of naval warfare in which submarines sink merchant ships such as freighters and tankers without warning, as opposed to attacks per prize rules (also known as "cruiser rules") that call for warships to sea ...
. To this end, negotiations with the local allotment association began at the beginning of 1917, with the ground being acquired by the Oxford Land Cultivation Committee in February 1917. The tenancy of the Oxford Land Cultivation Committee expired in March 1923, with the ground subsequently being built over by residential housing later in the 1920s.
Records
First-class
*Highest team total: 439 all out by
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
v
Marylebone Cricket Club
Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) is a cricket club founded in 1787 and based since 1814 at Lord's Cricket Ground, which it owns, in St John's Wood, London. The club was formerly the governing body of cricket retaining considerable global influence ...
, 1864
*Lowest team total: 12 all out by Oxford University v Marylebone Cricket Club, 1877
*Highest individual innings: 142 by
James Round
James Round (6 April 1842 – 25 December 1916) was a British Conservative politician and first-class cricketer.
Round was born at Colchester, the son of Rev. James Thomas Round and his wife Louisa Barlow. His father was Rector of St. Runwald' ...
for
Southgate
Southgate or South Gate may refer to:
Places Australia
*Southgate, Sylvania
*Southgate Arts and Leisure Precinct, an area within Southbank, Victoria
Canada
*Southgate, Ontario, a township in Grey County
* Southgate, Middlesex County, Ontario
Ed ...
v Oxford University, 1867
*Best bowling in an innings: 8-22 by
George Wootton for Marylebone Cricket Club v Oxford University, 1868
*Best bowling in a match: 15-98 by
Robert Henderson for
Gentlemen of England
Cricket, and hence English amateur cricket, probably began in England during the medieval period but the earliest known reference concerns the game being played c.1550 by children on a plot of land at the Royal Grammar School, Guildford, Surrey ...
v Oxford University, 1877
References
External links
Magdalen Groundat
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 ...
{{coord, 51.7435, -1.2295, region:GB_type:landmark, display=title
Magdalen College, Oxford
1829 establishments in England
Sports venues completed in 1829
University of Oxford sites
Sport at the University of Oxford
Cricket grounds in Oxfordshire
Oxford University Cricket Club
Defunct football venues in England
Defunct cricket grounds in England
1917 disestablishments in England
Parks and open spaces in Oxford
Sports venues in Oxford