Blackpool Cricket Club 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 st ...

club based in

Stanley Park Stanley Park is a public park in British Columbia, Canada that makes up the northwestern half of Vancouver's Downtown Peninsula, surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The park borders the neighbourhoods of West End and ...

, in

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, between the Ribble and Wyre rivers, and is ...

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 Lancas ...

. Located in western quadrant of the park, the club plays at a 5,000-seater ground, which is regularly used for

county cricket Inter-county cricket matches are known to have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Since the late 19th century, there have been two county championship ...

matches by

. The club's 1st and 2nd XI play in the ECB

Northern Premier League The Northern Premier League is an English football league that was founded in 1968. It has four divisions: the Premier Division (which stands at level 7 of the English football league system), Division One East, Division One West and Divisio ...

while its 3rd XI and Sunday Development XI turn out in the Palace Shield, and its 4th XI in the Fylde League. Its players include

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 ...

er Steven Croft.

Raikes Hall

Blackpool Cricket Club first formed in 1888 and they regularly played at Raikes Hall pleasure gardens. In 1889, R.G. Barlow organised the All England XI to play at the site against the Blackpool team.

Whitegate Park

Due to repairs being needed at the Raikes Hall site in 1893, the Blackpool Athletic Ground Company decided to give the club a more permanent home at Whitegate Park. The new ground covered an area of 150yds by 130yds. The first recorded match on the ground came in 1893, when Blackpool played the touring

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Australians, several (or all) ...

, who were on their Ashes tour. The inaugural first-class match to be played on the ground was between the

North North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north ...

and the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Proto-Germanic ''*sunþa ...

in the 1905

North v South The North of England and South of England cricket teams appeared in first-class cricket between the 1836 and 1961 seasons, most often in matches against each other but also individually in games against touring teams, Marylebone Cricket Club ...

fixture. Lancashire played their first first-class match on the ground in 1905 when they played against an England XI. From 1905 to the present day, the club's ground has played host to 98 first-class matches, the last of which came in the

2008 County Championship The 2008 County Championship season, known as the LV County Championship for sponsorship reasons, was contested through two divisions: Division One and Division Two. Each team plays all the others in their division both home and away. The top two ...

between Lancashire and

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and non-metropolitan county, non-metropolitan counties of England, county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant ur ...

. In the early 1920s the whitegate site no longer hosted other sports therefore it was decided the site would be dedicated to the Blackpool Cricket Club.

Stanley Park

In 1925, the grounds were renamed 'Stanley Park' as it sat within the boundary of the new park and continued to be the home of Blackpool Cricket Club. Sir Lindsay Parkinson donated the ground, valued at £10,000 to the club shortly before it was renamed Stanley Park. The ground is managed by Blackpool Cricket Club and the deeds are held in trust by the mayor. The club played in the Ribblesdale League and were part of the founding members whom created the

Northern League Northern League may refer to: Sport Baseball * Northern League (baseball, 1902–71), a name used by several minor leagues that operated in the upper midwestern U.S. and Manitoba from 1902 to 1971 * Northern League (baseball, 1993–2010), an indep ...

. Blackpool have also won the National Club Cricket Championship in 1990.

Former players

Many professionals have played at the club including: Peter Fairclough, Harold Larwood (played in 1939), Jim Parks,

Cecil Parkin Cecil Harry Parkin (18 February 1886 – 15 June 1943), known as Cec or Ciss Parkin, was an English cricketer who played in 10 Test matches between 1920 and 1924 and made 157 appearances for Lancashire County Cricket Club. Life and career Par ...

Ted McDonald Edgar Arthur "Ted" McDonald (6 January 1891 – 22 July 1937) was a cricketer who played for Tasmania, Victoria, Lancashire and Australia, as well as being an Australian rules footballer who played with Launceston Football Club, Essendon Foo ...

, Stewart Dempster, Ken James,

Bill Alley William Edward Alley (3 February 1919 – 26 November 2004) was a cricketer who played 400 first-class matches for New South Wales, Somerset and a Commonwealth XI. Whilst in Australia, Alley was also a middleweight boxer, and was undefe ...

Hanif Mohammad Hanif Mohammad PP ( ur, , 21 December 1934 – 11 August 2016) was a Pakistani cricketer. He played for the Pakistani cricket team in 55 Test matches between the 1952–53 season and the 1969–70 season. He averaged 43.98 scoring twelve ...

Rohan Kanhai Rohan Babulal Kanhai (born 26 December 1935) is a Guyanese former cricketer of Tamil Indo-Guyanese origin , who represented the West Indies in 79 Test matches. He is widely considered to be one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai fea ...

Cammie Smith Cameron Wilberforce Smith (born 29 July 1933) is a former West Indian international cricketer who played in five Test matches from 1960 to 1962. Smith attended Harrison College in Bridgetown. At the age of 18 he made 80 on his first-class deb ...

, Mushtaq Mohammad, Collis King, Maninder Singh,

Richie Richardson Sir Richard Benjamin Richardson, KCN (born 12 January 1962) is a former West Indies international cricketer and a former captain of the West Indian cricket team. He was a flamboyant batsman and superb player of fast bowling. He was famous for ...

and Steven Croft.

Arthur Shrewsbury Arthur Shrewsbury (11 April 1856 – 19 May 1903) was an English cricketer and rugby football administrator. He was widely rated as competing with W. G. Grace for the accolade of best batsman of the 1880s; Grace himself, when asked whom he wo ...

and Johnny Briggs played at the ground in 1891.

References

External links

* {{Blackpool culture English club cricket teams Sport in Blackpool 1893 establishments in England Cricket in Lancashire