St George's Park Cricket Ground (also known as St George's Park, Crusaders Ground or simply Crusaders) is a cricket ground in St George's Park,

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 the home of the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, one of the oldest cricket clubs in South Africa, and the Eastern Province Club. It is also one of the venues at which Test matches and

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

s are played in

. It is older than Kingswood College in Grahamstown. The ground is notable for its brass band that plays during major matches, adding a unique flavour to its atmosphere. The ground hosted its first

Test match Test match in some sports refers to a sporting contest between national representative teams and may refer to: * Test cricket * Test match (indoor cricket) * Test match (rugby union) * Test match (rugby league) * Test match (association football) ...

in March 1889 when England defeated South Africa by 8 wickets. This was South Africa’s first Test match. , there have been 21 Test matches played at the ground of which South Africa has won 8 and their opponents 9 with 4 draws. The first

played at the ground was in December 1992 when South Africa beat India by 6 wickets. , there have been 25 One Day Internationals played at the ground including five in the

Cricket World Cup The Cricket World Cup (officially known as ICC Men's Cricket World Cup) is the international championship of One Day International (ODI) cricket. The event is organised by the sport's governing body, the International Cricket Council (ICC), e ...

in 2003.

Official name

The ground's official name is "Axxess DSL St Georges" acknowledging a commercial sponsorship arrangement. However South African and other cricket fans continue to call the ground by its historic name, just "St George’s Park". Its nickname is "The Dragon's Lair" based on the famous legend of St George.

2003 Cricket World Cup

St George's Park was one of 15 venues in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya selected to host matches during the world cup. It hosted 5 matches during the tournament, including 3 group games, 1 super six game and a semi-final.

2009 Indian Premier League

When the 2009 IPL was moved to South Africa, St George's Park was chosen as one of eight venues in South Africa to host matches. The ground hosted a seven matches, all of them were group games.

Warriors Cricket

The stadium is one of the Warriors' 2 home grounds, the other being East London's

Buffalo Park Buffalo Park is a cricket ground located in East London, Eastern Cape, South Africa. It is one of the home grounds for the Warriors cricket team, and the principal home ground for Border. It can hold up to 20,000 spectators. Buffalo Park supers ...

. The stadium hosts Warriors home matches in the

Sunfoil Series The CSA 4-Day Domestic Series is the domestic first class cricket competition of South Africa. The tournament is contested by teams from all nine provinces of South Africa. First contested as the Currie Cup from 1889–90, the tournament has u ...

Momentum 1 Day Cup The CSA One-Day Cup (formerly known as the Standard Bank Cup, the MTN Domestic Championship, and the Momentum One-Day Cup) is the premier domestic one-day cricket competition of South Africa, its matches having List A status. Matches are usually ...

''(previously the

MTN Domestic Championship The CSA One-Day Cup (formerly known as the Standard Bank Cup, the MTN Domestic Championship, and the Momentum One-Day Cup) is the premier domestic one-day cricket competition of South Africa, its matches having List A status. Matches are usuall ...

)'' and

Ram Slam T20 Challenge The Betway T20 Challenge is a domestic Twenty20 Cricket competition in South Africa, first contested in the 2003–04 season. It was previously known as the Standard Bank Pro20 Series until the 2010–11 season, the MiWay T20 Challenge for the ...

References

External links