Mangaung Oval, previously known as Springbok Park, Chevrolet Park, Goodyear Park, and OUTsurance Oval, is a

cricket oval A cricket field is a large grass field on which the game of cricket is played. Although generally oval in shape, there is a wide variety within this: some are almost perfect circles, some elongated ovals and some entirely irregular shapes with l ...

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein, ( ; , "fountain of flowers") also known as Bloem, is one of South Africa's three capital cities and the capital of the Free State (province), Free State province. It serves as the country's judicial capital, along with legisla ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. It is currently used mostly for

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 ...

matches. It is the home of the

Knights cricket team The ITEC Knights are a Division 1 cricket team representing the province of Free State in South African domestic competitions. The Knights take part in the CSA 4-Day Series first-class competition, the Momentum One-Day Cup and the Mzansi ...

. The stadium holds 20,000 people and opened in 1989.

History

The ground hosted its first one-day international in December 1992 when

cruised to an eight-wicket victory over

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. In October 1999 it was accorded full Test status with the visit of

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. Early in 1994 at the ground

Hansie Cronje Wessel Johannes "Hansie" Cronje (25 September 1969 – 1 June 2002) was a South African international cricketer and captain of the South African national cricket team in the 1990s. A right-handed all-rounder, as captain Cronje led his team to vi ...

smashed 251 with 28 fours and six sixes against the touring

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) ...

. The ground played its part in South African Test history when, fittingly,

Allan Donald Allan Anthony Donald (born 20 October 1966) is a South African former cricketer who is also the current bowling coach of Bangladesh national cricket team. Often nicknamed 'White Lightning' due to his lightning quick bowling, he is considered ...

, who as a Free State cricketer played many times at the ground, became the first South African to capture 300 Test wickets during the First Test against

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in November 2000. In March 2003

Feiko Kloppenburg Jan Feiko Kloppenburg (born 19 June 1974) is a former Dutch international cricketer. He was born in Haarlem, North Holland. Domestic career Kloppenburg made his first-class cricket debut in the 2004 ICC Intercontinental Cup game against Ireland ...

and

Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk Klaas-Jan Jeroen van Noortwijk (born 10 July 1970) is a former Dutch cricketer. He is a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler. Domestic career He started playing cricket at VOC in Rotterdam when he was 8 years old. A back injur ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

scored a century in the same match as Netherlands posted their only win in

2003 Cricket World Cup The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup was the eighth Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya from 9 February to 23 March 2003. This edition of the World Cup was the f ...

against

Namibia Namibia (, ), officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country in Southern Africa. Its western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Zambia and Angola to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and ea ...

. On 7 March 2007, Irish vocal pop band

Westlife Westlife is an Irish pop vocal group formed in Dublin, Ireland in 1998. The group currently consists of members Shane Filan, Mark Feehily, Kian Egan, and Nicky Byrne. Brian McFadden was a member, until he left in 2004. The group temporarily di ...

held a concert for

The Love Tour The Love Tour was a tour by the Irish band Westlife seen by 390,000 fans. The tour started in Australia, and covered Africa and UK in 2007. The tour had a subtotal of £1,031,033 gross secondary ticket sales. Support acts *Code 5 *Cushh *Dyyc ...

supporting their album '' The Love Album''. This was the stadium where

Colin Ingram Colin Alexander Ingram (born 3 July 1985) is a South African cricketer who currently plays for Glamorgan. He represented South Africa in One Day (ODI) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) between 2010 and 2013, scoring a century on his ODI debut ...

scored his maiden ODI

century A century is a period of 100 years. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. A centennial or ...

in his first international match, the first South African to score a century on his ODI debut. Springbok Park boasts some of the best lights in the country and is regularly used for day/night matches, when the grassy banks become colourfully filled with spectators and a carnival atmosphere prevails. It is just 10 minutes walk from the city centre, with Bloemfontein coach station adjacent to the ground. A

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization whereby a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event, typically for a defined period of t ...

arrangement saw the ground renamed Goodyear Park due to sponsorship by the

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturing company founded in 1898 by Frank Seiberling and based in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for automobiles, commercial trucks, light trucks, motorcycles, S ...

until the 2007/08 season when it was renamed the OUTsurance Oval. It has since been renamed again as Mangaung Oval. Zimbabwe are scheduled to play South Africa in a one-off test in March 2024.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official ground page

Cricket grounds in South Africa Buildings and structures in Bloemfontein 2003 Cricket World Cup stadiums Multi-purpose stadiums in South Africa Sports venues in the Free State (province)

History

See also

References

External links