Queen Elizabeth Park is a park in

Masterton Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

, Wairarapa,

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 ...

, beside the Waipoua River. It was named Masterton Park until 1954, when it was renamed in honour of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 1926 – 8 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. She was queen ...

after her visit to Masterton. The park has gardens and a lake, as well as sports grounds, a large playground and a miniature railway.

Cricket ground

The

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 the park was developed for local cricket in 1881. The first major match at the ground was held in 1907 when Wairarapa played the touring

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 ...

. In December 1910 the ground staged the first match in the inaugural season of the Hawke Cup, when Wairarapa hosted Manawatu. The ground held its first first-class match during the 1966/67 Plunket Shield when Central Districts played

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

. Between the 1966/67 and 2002/03 seasons, twelve first-class matches were held there, the last of which saw Central Districts play

Wellington Wellington ( mi, Te Whanganui-a-Tara or ) is the capital city of New Zealand. It is located at the south-western tip of the North Island, between Cook Strait and the Remutaka Range. Wellington is the second-largest city in New Zealand by me ...

in the 2002/03

State Championship New Zealand has had a domestic first-class cricket championship since the 1906–07 season. Since the 2009–10 season it has been known by its original name of the Plunket Shield. History The Plunket Shield competition was instigated in Octob ...

. Between the 1980/81 and 2004/05 season, Central Districts played five

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 at Queen Elizabeth Park.

Central Districts Women The Central Hinds are the women's representative cricket team of the Central Districts Cricket Association, based in central New Zealand. They play their home games at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, McLean Park, Napier, Fitzherbert Park, Palmersto ...

used Queen Elizabeth Park as a home venue between 2002 and 2010. It is the home ground for the Wairarapa men's team that competes in the Hawke Cup, and the administrative offices of the Wairarapa Cricket Association are nearby.

References

External links

Queen Elizabeth Park
at

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Queen Elizabeth Park
at CricketArchive {{Masterton District, state=collapsed 1881 establishments in New Zealand Parks in New Zealand Cricket grounds in New Zealand Sports venues in the Wellington Region