Prince's Cricket Ground in

Chelsea, London Chelsea is an area in West London, England, due south-west of Kilometre zero#Great Britain, Charing Cross by approximately . It lies on the north bank of the River Thames and for postal purposes is part of the SW postcode area, south-western p ...

was a

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

ground, created by the brothers George and James Prince as part of the

Prince's Club The Prince's Club was a socially exclusive gentlemen's multisports club in London, England. The original 'Prince's Club' was founded in 1853 in Chelsea, London, Chelsea by George and James Prince and its main sports were Racquets (sport), racket ...

, on which 37 first-class matches were played between 1872 and 1878. The ground was built on in 1883. The boundaries of the site, laid out on the former Cattleugh's nursery gardens, are marked by Cadogan Square West, Milner Street, Lennox Gardens Mews, Walton Street and Pont Street. The 1872 edition of ''

Wisden Cricketers' Almanack ''Wisden Cricketers' Almanack'', or simply ''Wisden'', colloquially the Bible of Cricket, is a cricket reference book published annually in the United Kingdom. The description "Bible of cricket" (or variations thereof) has been applied to ''Wi ...

'' described the ground as 'grand and quick and one of the finest playing grounds in England'. The first match played on the ground was Household Brigade v. Lords and Commons on 3 June 1871.

Middlesex County Cricket Club Middlesex 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 Middlesex which has effectively been subsumed within the ceremonial ...

used the ground between 1872 and 1876 and played their first match on 23–25 May 1872 against Yorkshire. The ground was also used by

South of England Southern England, also known as the South of England or the South, is a sub-national part of England. Officially, it is made up of the southern, south-western and part of the eastern parts of England, consisting of the statistical regions of ...

and by Gentlemen of the South. Several

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of cricket matches that began in July 1806 and was abolished in January 1963. It was a match between a team consisting of amateurs (the Gentlemen) and a team consisting of professionals (the Players ...

fixtures were also played there, the first taking place in July 1873. In 1878, the touring Australians played two matches on the ground: Gentlemen of England v Australians and Players v Australians (the last first-class match held on the ground, scheduled for 11 to 13 September but finished in two days). The increasing acquisition of portions of the site for building development, made possible by 'The Cadogan and Hans Place Improvement Act of 1874', discouraged its further use. The former first-class cricketer Thomas Box was employed as an attendant at the ground. On 12 July 1876, during the Middlesex v Nottinghamshire match, he collapsed. He died three hours later. The site was also used for

lawn tennis Tennis is a List of racket sports, racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles (tennis), singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles (tennis), doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket st ...

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racket (sports equipment), racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net (device), net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per s ...

and other games. A permanent

roller skating Roller skating is the act of travelling on surfaces with roller skates. It is a recreation, recreational activity, a sport, and a form of transportation. Roller rinks and skate parks are built for roller skating, though it also takes place on s ...

rink was also added.Chelsea: Cremorne Gardens, ''Old and New London: Volume 5'', 1878, pp 84-100.
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Ground records in first-class matches

*Highest total: 612 Oxford University v Middlesex 1876 (at the time, the highest total ever made in a first-class match) *Lowest total: 47 Middlesex v Oxford University 1874 *Highest individual score: 261

W.G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English cricketer who is widely considered one of the sport's all-time greatest players. Always known by his initials as "WG", his first-class career spanned a record-equalling 4 ...

South of England v North of England 1877 *Best bowling: 8-31 Fred Morley Players of the North v Gentlemen of the South 1875 *Highest partnership 281 (for the 2nd wicket) W.G. Grace & J.M. Cotterill South of England v North of England 1877

References

Sources

Cricinfo: Prince's Cricket Ground
* Simon Rae, ''W.G. Grace: A Life'', 1998, . {{coord, 51.4957, -0.1620, type:landmark_region:GB-KEC, display=title Defunct cricket grounds in England History of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea English cricket venues in the 19th century Cricket grounds in London Sport in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Defunct sports venues in London Sports venues completed in 1872 Cricket grounds in Middlesex 1872 establishments in England