Seddon Park is 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 striki ...

ground in

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton ( mi, Kirikiriroa) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the country's fou ...

. It is the fourth-largest cricket ground in the country, and is renowned for its "

village green A village green is a commons, common open area within a village or other settlement. Historically, a village green was common pasture, grassland with a pond for watering cattle and other stock, often at the edge of a rural settlement, used for ...

" setting, affording a picnic atmosphere for spectators.

History

Seddon Park was named after

Richard Seddon Richard John Seddon (22 June 1845 – 10 June 1906) was a New Zealand politician who served as the List of prime ministers of New Zealand, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand, premier (prime minister) of New Zealand from 1893 until his death. ...

, the longest-serving Prime Minister of New Zealand. Hamilton Borough Council named it in July 1906 before it was developed. It was first used for a major cricket match in February 1914, when the touring Australians played a South Auckland XVIII in a two-day match. It has been in constant use since. Due to sponsorship from

Trust Bank A trust company is a corporation that acts as a fiduciary, trustee or agent of trusts and agencies. A professional trust company may be independently owned or owned by, for example, a bank or a law firm, and which specializes in being a trus ...

and subsequently

Westpac Westpac Banking Corporation, known simply as Westpac, is an Australian multinational banking and financial services company headquartered at Westpac Place in Sydney, New South Wales. Established in 1817 as the Bank of New South Wales, it ...

, the ground was known as Trust Bank Park from 1990 to 1997, as WestpacTrust Park from 1997 to 2003, and as Westpac Park from 2003 to 2006. It reverted to its original name in 2006, when Westpac decided to end its sponsorship of a number of sporting events and grounds in New Zealand. Seddon Park staged one of the matches in the

1992 Cricket World Cup The 1992 Cricket World Cup (officially the Benson & Hedges World Cup 1992) was the fifth staging of the Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was held in Australia and New Zealand from 22 February to 25 Mar ...

and three matches in the

2015 Cricket World Cup The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by Aust ...

. Australia are scheduled to play a test match in March 2024 to mark the return to test cricket in Hamilton for the first time since 2020/21.

Ground

Seddon Park is a round, well-grassed ground with a centre block of nine pitches, running approximately north to south. These pitches are usually very good for batting. There is an embankment going around three-quarters of the perimeter, with a tall hedgerow outside this embankment. In addition to cricket, Seddon Park has been used for

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

and

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

matches. It therefore has a flexible stadium environment that can be modified according to sports events.

Usage and statistics

Seddon Park has been used for

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 officiall ...

since the 1956–57 season, coinciding with the formation of the

Northern Districts Cricket Association The Northern Districts men's cricket team are one of six New Zealand first-class cricket teams that make up New Zealand Cricket. They are based in the northern half of the North Island of New Zealand (excluding Auckland). They compete in the ...

and the inclusion of the Northern Districts cricket team in the

Plunket Shield 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 ...

competition. The ground is used for hosting Twenty20 International matches, One Day International matches as well as

Test Test(s), testing, or TEST may refer to: * Test (assessment), an educational assessment intended to measure the respondents' knowledge or other abilities Arts and entertainment * ''Test'' (2013 film), an American film * ''Test'' (2014 film), ...

matches. It has hosted a total of 9 T20Is, 34 ODIs and 25 Test matches. The first ODI played here was between New Zealand and India on 15 February 1981, which New Zealand won by 57 runs. The first Test match was played on 22–26 February 1991, between New Zealand and Sri Lanka, which was a draw.

Kane Williamson Kane Stuart Williamson (born 8 August 1990) is a New Zealand cricketer who is currently the Captain (cricket), captain of the New Zealand national cricket team, New Zealand national team in limited overs cricket. He is considered as New Zealand' ...

has the highest Test score on the ground, 251 versus West Indies in 2020, whilst

Ross Taylor Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor (born 8 March 1984) is a former international cricketer and former captain of the New Zealand national team. Batting predominantly at number four, when he announced his retirement from international cricket at ...

holds the highest Test aggregate for the ground of 908 runs. The ground was also used for one season in 2001 for the majority of Waikato and Chiefs rugby home games. Temporary stands were raised for the games. Rugby returned to the newly built

Waikato Stadium FMG Stadium Waikato is a major sporting and cultural events venue in Hamilton, New Zealand, with a total capacity of 25,800. Four areas contribute to this capacity: The Brian Perry Stand holding 12,000, the WEL Networks Stand holding 8,000, the ...

for the following year.

Cricket World Cups

This stadium has hosted One Day International (ODI) matches for all editions of the World cups, when New Zealand was a co-host. ---- ---- ICC World Cup 2019, 1st Match, Group B ---- ---- ICC World Cup 2015, 17th Match, Group B ---- ---- ICC World Cup 2015, 19th Match, Group A ---- ----

Tests record for ground

Highest totals : 715/6 d (163 overs) by New Zealand v Bangladesh on 28 Feb 2019
High scores : 251 (412) by

v West Indies on 3 December 2020

References

External links

CricketArchive entry

CricketWeb entry
{{Cricket Grounds NZ Sports venues in Hamilton, New Zealand Test cricket grounds in New Zealand Cricket grounds in New Zealand 1992 Cricket World Cup stadiums 2015 Cricket World Cup stadiums