Rose Bowl, Hampshire

The Rose Bowl, known for sponsorship reasons as Ageas Bowl is a cricket ground and hotel complex in West End, Hampshire. It is the home of Hampshire County Cricket Club, who have played there since 2001.

It was constructed as a replacement for the County Ground in Southampton and also the United Services Recreation Ground in Portsmouth, which had been Hampshire's homes since 1882. Hampshire played their inaugural first-class match at the ground against Worcestershire on 9–11 May 2001, with Hampshire winning by 124 runs. The ground has since hosted international cricket, including One Day Internationals, matches in the 2004 Champions Trophy, two Twenty20 Internationals and Test matches in 2011, 2014 and 2018, when England played Sri Lanka and India. In 2020, the ground was used as one of two biosecure venues, alongside Old Trafford, for the tours involving West Indies, Pakistan and Ireland which were regulated due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In order to be able to host Test cricket, the ground underwent a redevelopment starting in 2008, which saw stands built to increase capacity and other construction work undertaken to make the hosting of international cricket at the ground more viable. A four-star Hilton Hotel with an integrated media centre overlooking the ground opened in 2015. Following Hampshire Cricket Ltd finding itself in financial trouble in 2011, the lease on the ground was sold to Eastleigh Borough Council for £6.5 million with a benefactor injecting a similar sum in 2012.

The Rose Bowl played host to the inaugural final of the 2019–21 ICC World Test Championship between India and New Zealand, resulting in New Zealand being crowned inaugural World Test Champions.

During ICC tournaments, the ground is referred to as the Hampshire Bowl due to sponsors names not being allowed.

History

Background

Hampshire had played at their Northlands Road headquarters in Southampton since 1885, as well as using Dean Park in Bournemouth, the United Services Recreation Ground in Portsmouth and May's Bounty in Basingstoke as regular outground venues. Northlands Road was a cramped location, surrounded by residential buildings which meant expanding the ground was largely impossible. Hampshire also wanted to encourage international cricket to the county, which would not have been possible with Northlands Road. Talk of a move from Newlands Road had begun as early as 1987, with Mark Nicholas discussing the idea with then Hampshire vice-chairman Bill Hughes in a Leeds restaurant. A site was eventually selected just outside Southampton, in West End, on a gently sloping field owned by Queen's College, Oxford located between the M27 motorway and Telegraph Woods.

The ground was designed by architect Sir Michael Hopkins, whose design of the centrepiece pavilion with its tented roof was reminiscent of the Mound Stand at Lord's, which Hopkins also designed. Construction started on the ground in 1997, however, the budget for the ground's construction soon spiralled out of control, threatening the very existence of the club. Further funding was secured as construction continued until its first stage was completed in time for the 2001 season. Its final cost was £20 million, with a large part of that cost being secured with Lottery and Sport England funding, while the club's financial future was secured by the incoming chairman, Rod Bransgrove.

The ground is built into the side of the gently sloping hill on which it is located, resulting in an amphitheatre bowl. The initial name for the ground was announced in 2000 as The Rose Bowl, in recognition of the club's rose and crown logo and the bowl-shaped nature of the ground.

Early years

Hampshire's first scheduled county match at the ground was a List A match in the 2001 Benson & Hedges Cup against Essex on 2 May, though the match was abandoned without a ball bowled due to rain, therefore the first completed match on the ground was a List A match in the same competition against Surrey on 4 May, which Hampshire lost. First-class cricket was first played there days later on 9–11 May, when Hampshire played Worcestershire in the County Championship, which resulted in Hampshire's first victory there with a 124 run victory. Hampshire were not the only tenant in the first year of the ground, with the Hampshire Cricket Board playing Ireland in September 2001 in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy.

In November 2001, the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) awarded the Rose Bowl a Youth Test match between England Under-19s and India Under-19s. The following month the ECB announced the Rose Bowl would be awarded One Day International status with effect from 2004. The pavilion was completed in March 2002 at a cost of £2 million, and upon completion it was the only pavilion among the first-class counties to have jacuzzis in the players changing rooms.

In 2003, the ground played host to only the second ever Twenty20 match played, when Hampshire hosted Sussex in the Twenty20 Cup. The Rose Bowl hosted its first One Day International (ODI) on 10 July 2003, when South Africa played Zimbabwe in the 2003 NatWest Series, with numerous publications calling the hosting of the match a resounding success for Hampshire.

In 2004, the ground hosted another ODI between New Zealand and the West Indies in the 2004 NatWest Series, though the match was abandoned without a ball bowled. The ground later held five ODIs during that seasons Champions Trophy, which saw India post 290/4 against Kenya, the United States dismissed for 65 by Australia, and Mervyn Dillon take figures of 5/29 for the West Indies against Bangladesh: all three of these records remain to this day in terms of the highest and lowest innings scores in ODI cricket at the ground, as well as the best innings bowling figures. During the course of the tournament, England also played there for the first time, against Sri Lanka, though The Rose Bowl was criticised for its organisation of the match, with spectators citing access to the ground, long queues and stringent searches at the gate among complaints.

In 2005, England played their first ever Twenty20 International (T20I) against Australia as part of the Ashes series, with England winning the match by 100 runs.

In 2006, England played another T20I against Sri Lanka, which England won, due in large to Marcus Trescothick

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