Richard Beamish Cricket Grounds are 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 str ...

ground in the

Mardyke The Mardyke ( ga, An Mhuirdíog) is an area in Cork city, on the northern half of the long western part of the island formed by the two channels of the River Lee near the city centre. It was historically left as open space because the land along ...

Cork Cork or CORK may refer to: Materials * Cork (material), an impermeable buoyant plant product ** Cork (plug), a cylindrical or conical object used to seal a container ***Wine cork Places Ireland * Cork (city) ** Metropolitan Cork, also known as G ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The cricket field and facilities are located on the southern bank of the

River Lee The River Lee (Irish: ''An Laoi'') is a river in Ireland. It rises in the Shehy Mountains on the western border of County Cork and flows eastwards through Cork, where it splits in two for a short distance, creating an island on which Cork's ...

, and overlooked by

University College Cork University College Cork – National University of Ireland, Cork (UCC) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile Corcaigh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland, and located in Cork. The university was founded in 1845 as one ...

and St Vincent's Catholic Church. The ground is officially named after Richard Beamish, but it is generally called The Mardyke after the area where it is situated, or the Cricket Club as it is the home ground of

Cork County Cricket Club Cork County Cricket Club is a cricket club in Cork, Ireland, playing in Division 2 of the Leinster Senior League. A member of the Munster Cricket Union, it is the only club from outside Leinster playing in the Leinster League. The club was ...

. The Munster representative provincial side, the

Munster Reds Munster Reds is an Irish inter-provincial cricket team based in Cork, in the province of Munster. In April 2017, Cricket Ireland approved the participation of the team in the Interprovincial Twenty20 Cup, the highest level of T20 domestic cri ...

, also use The Mardyke as their home ground.

History

Cricket was first played at the Mardyke in 1850. Cork County Cricket Club was formed in 1874, and began playing their home grounds at the Mardyke. It was around the 1890s that a lot of the features of the ground were established, under the stewardship of Sir George Colthurst. Some of the improvements made to the ground around this time were also funded by the nearby Queen's College. Facilities were of a sufficient standard to attract teams from England, including

W. G. Grace William Gilbert Grace (18 July 1848 – 23 October 1915) was an English amateur cricketer who was important in the development of the sport and is widely considered one of its greatest players. He played first-class cricket for a record-equal ...

's London County, who played

at the ground in 1903. The current long room was built for the 1902 International Exhibition. The onset of the First World War led to an end of touring teams playing at Cork, however cricket was played by

army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

and naval forces based in and around Cork. With Irish independence in 1922, the military departed and cricket was more dependent on local civilian players. By the 1950s, the number of touring teams visiting the Mardyke had increased, and the ground hosted its inaugural

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 officia ...

match in 1947, when Ireland played

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a Anglo-Scottish border, border with England to the southeast ...

. The Mardyke played host to two more first-class matches between the sides in 1961 and 1973. In 2006, the future of the ground was secured for another 150 years, following a legal dispute over ownership between Cork County Cricket Club and the

Beamish and Crawford Beamish and Crawford was a brewery and brewing company based in Cork, Ireland, established in 1792 by William Beamish and William Crawford on the site of an existing porter brewery. In the early 1800s, it was the largest brewery in Ireland. ...

brewing company. In 2017,

Twenty20 Twenty20 (T20) is a shortened game format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two teams have a single inn ...

cricket was first played at the Mardyke, when

played the

Northern Knights The Northern Knights is an Australian rules football club playing in the NAB League, the top statewide under-18 competition in Victoria, Australia. They are based in Preston, representing the northern suburban area of Melbourne. The Knights a ...

in the

2017 Inter-Provincial Trophy The 2017 Inter-Provincial Trophy was the fifth edition of the Inter-Provincial Trophy, a Twenty20 cricket competition played in Ireland. It was held from 26 May to 11 August 2017. It was the first edition of the competition to be played with ful ...

. List A one-day cricket was first played at The Mardyke in the

2021 Inter-Provincial Cup The 2021 Inter-Provincial Cup was the ninth edition of the Inter-Provincial Cup, a List A cricket competition that took place in Ireland during 2021. It was the fifth edition of the competition to be played with List A status. The number of team ...

, when Munster Reds hosted the

North West Warriors North West Warriors is one of four provincial cricket teams in Ireland. Along with the Leinster Lightning, Northern Knights and Munster Reds, it makes up the Inter-Provincial Championship, Inter-Provincial Cup & Inter-Provincial Trophy. The te ...

Records

First-class

* Highest team total: 235 all out by

, 1961 * Lowest team total: 103 all out by Ireland v Scotland, 1947 * Highest individual innings: 125 by Stanley Bergin for Ireland v Scotland, 1961 * Best bowling in an innings: 7-38 by

Dermott Monteith James Dermott Monteith (2 June 1943 – 6 December 2009) was an Irish international cricketer. Monteith was a right-handed Batsman (cricket), batsman who bowled slow left-arm orthodox. Monteith was educated at the Royal Belfast Academical In ...

for Ireland v Scotland, 1973 * Best bowling in a match: 12-97 by Dermott Monteith, as above

List A

* Highest team total: 292 for 6 by

, 2021 * Lowest team total: 289 for 6 by Munster Reds v North West Warriors, as above * Highest individual innings: 110 by

William Porterfield William Thomas Stuart Porterfield (born 6 September 1984) is an Irish former cricketer and a former captain of the Ireland cricket team. He played first-class cricket for Gloucestershire and Warwickshire. A left-handed batsman, he played for Ir ...

for North West Warriors v Munster Reds, as above * Best bowling in an innings: 3 for 48 by

Craig Young Craig Young (born 25 June 1956) is an Australian former representative rugby league footballer for the Australia national rugby league team, the New South Wales Blues and a stalwart player over 11 seasons from 1977 to 1988 with the St. Geor ...

for North West Warriors v Munster Reds, as above

Twenty20

* Highest team total: 195 for 5 by

, 2018 * Lowest team total: 92 for 5 by Munster Reds v Northern Knights, 2017 * Highest individual innings: 80 by Gary Wilson for Northern Knights v Munster Reds, 2018 * Best bowling in an innings: 3-12 by

Stephanus Grobler Stephanus Frederick Grobler (born 11 November 1982) is a South African former cricketer who played for Gauteng, Boland and South Western Districts. A right-handed batsman and right-arm off break bowler, he played 30 first-class matches between ...

for Munster Reds v Northern Knights, 2017

References

External links

* * {{coord, 51.8964, -8.4919, type:landmark_region:IRE, display=title Cricket grounds in the Republic of Ireland Sports venues in Cork (city) Sports venues completed in 1850 1850 establishments in Ireland Cricket in County Cork Munster Reds World's fair sites in Ireland