The War Memorial Athletic Ground, often referred to as simply the War Memorial Ground, is a

sports ground A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field. For most sports t ...

in the

Amblecote Amblecote is an urban village and one of the most affluent areas in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England. It lies immediately north of the historic town of Stourbridge, extending about one and a half miles from it, an ...

region of

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The 20 ...

West Midlands West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It plays host to both

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 ...

and

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, being the home of Stourbridge Cricket Club and

Stourbridge Football Club Stourbridge Football Club (nicknamed "The Glassboys" due to the town's traditional association with the cut glass industry) is an English association football club based in the town of Stourbridge, West Midlands (county), West Midlands. The clu ...

Cricket

International

Two

ICC Trophy The ICC World Cup Qualifier (previously called the ICC Trophy and officially known as the ICC Men's Cricket World Cup Qualifier) is a One-Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that serves as the culmination of the Cricket World Cup qualifi ...

matches have been played at the War Memorial Ground:

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

in 1979, and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

in 1986. The ground also hosted a match in the 1997

Triple Crown Tournament The Triple Crown Tournament was a cricket competition staged annually from 1993 to 2001 between the Home Nations; that is to say Ireland, Scotland, Wales and a team representing England. England were not represented by the professional English cr ...

, between an England Cricket Board XI and

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 ...

Domestic

Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded ...

played 61 first-class matches at the ground: 60 between 1905 and 1962, and a further one in 1981. All these games were in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

. Only three

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 ...

games have been played here, in 1969, 1970 and 1982, again all involving Worcestershire. The county played Second XI cricket at the ground into the early 1990s. On this ground in 1911, Worcestershire lost to

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

by 372 runs, which as of the beginning of the 2009 season remains the county's largest ever defeat in terms of runs. In 1909

Frank Woolley Frank Edward Woolley (27 May 1887 – 18 October 1978) was an English professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1906 and 1938 and for the England cricket team. A genuine all-rounder, Woolley was a left-handed batsman ...

and

Arthur Fielder Arthur Fielder (19 July 1877 – 30 August 1949) was an English professional cricketer who played as a fast bowler for Kent County Cricket Club and the England cricket team from 1900 to 1914. He played a major role in Kent's four County Champ ...

shared a partnership of 235 for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

's 10th wicket, a stand which remains the highest for the 10th wicket in the

as of 2021 and the fourth-highest of all time.

Records

First-class

* Highest team total: 592/9 declared by

v Worcestershire, 1909 * Lowest team total: 43 by Worcestershire v

, 1913 * Highest individual innings: 217 by Frederick Bowley for Worcestershire v

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ; postal abbreviation Leics.) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East Midlands, England. The county borders Nottinghamshire to the north, Lincolnshire to the north-east, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire t ...

, 1905 * Best bowling in an innings: 9-40 by

Reg Perks Reginald Thomas David Perks (4 October 1911 – 22 November 1977) was an English cricketer who played in two Test matches in 1939, and was the mainstay of Worcestershire's bowling for a long period from the middle 1930s until the middle 1950s ...

for Worcestershire v

Glamorgan , HQ = Cardiff , Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974) , Origin= , Code = GLA , CodeName = Chapman code , Replace = * West Glamorgan * Mid Glamorgan * South Glamorgan , Motto ...

, 1939

List A

* Highest team total: 164/9 (40 overs) by Worcestershire v Leicestershire, 1970Same match. * Lowest team total: 104 (37.5 overs) by Glamorgan v Worcestershire, 1969 * Highest individual innings: 58 by

Nigel Briers Nigel Edwin Briers (born 15 January 1955 in Southfields, Leicester, England) played first-class and List A cricket for Leicestershire between 1971 and 1995. Cricket career A right-handed opening batsman, Briers was Leicestershire's youngest ...

for Leicestershire v Worcestershire, 1982 * Best bowling in an innings: 4-24 by Bob Carter for Worcestershire v Leicestershire, 1970Same match.

Football

The War Memorial Athletic Ground is also the home of Stourbridge F.C. The ground hosted League One team

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands County, England. Historic counties of England, Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east ...

in the FA Cup 1st round on 7 November 2009. The match finished in a 0–1 loss for Stourbridge. It also hosted a replay between Stourbridge and

Plymouth Argyle Plymouth Argyle Football Club is a professional football club based in the city of Plymouth, Devon, England. As of the 2021–22 season, the team are competing in League One, the third tier of English football. They have played at Home Park, ...

in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

on 22 November 2011.

Notes

References

Amblecote, Stourbridge
from CricketArchive. (This is the only name CA gives to the ground.) Retrieved 19 December 2006. {{coord, 52, 27, 45.20, N, 2, 09, 04.89, W, type:landmark, display=title Football venues in the West Midlands (county) Welsh Cup final venues Cricket grounds in the West Midlands (county) Sports venues completed in 1905 World War I memorials in England Stourbridge 1905 establishments in England