Newlands Cricket Ground (known as Six Gun Grill Newlands for sponsorship reasons) in

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

is a South African

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. It is the home of the Cape Cobras, who play 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 and RamSlam Pro20 competitions. It is also a venue for Test matches, ODIs and T20Is. Newlands is regarded as one of the most beautiful cricket grounds in the world, being overlooked by

Table Mountain Table Mountain ( naq, Huriǂoaxa, lit= sea-emerging; af, Tafelberg) is a flat-topped mountain forming a prominent landmark overlooking the city of Cape Town in South Africa. It is a significant tourist attraction, with many visitors using the ...

and Devil's Peak. It is close to

Newlands Stadium The Newlands Stadium, referred to as DHL Newlands for sponsorship reasons, is located in Cape Town, South Africa. The stadium has a capacity of 51,900 people, but is not an all-seater venue. Various sports teams use the stadium as their hom ...

, which is a

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 it ...

and football venue. The cricket ground opened in 1888. In March 2019, it was announced that the owners of Newlands Cricket Ground, the

Western Province Cricket Association The Western Province Cricket Association is the governing body for cricket in the Cape Town region. Its representative team, Western Province, competes in South Africa's domestic competition the Supersport Series The CSA 4-Day Domestic Series is ...

, went into partnership with

Sanlam Sanlam is a South African financial services group headquartered in Bellville, Western Cape, South Africa. Sanlam is the largest insurance company in Africa. It is listed on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Namibian Stock Exchange and the ...

, to form a new office-block development as part of the cricket ground.

Official name

The ground's official name is "Six Gun Grill Newlands" as of October 2020, acknowledging a commercial sponsorship arrangement with a local maker of spices and seasonings. Previously it was known as "PPC Newlands" in a deal with a cement firm, "Sahara Park Newlands" after a computer company, and "Liberty Life Newlands" when an insurance company held the naming rights. It is still often referred to by its historic name, simply "Newlands".

History

The title deed for the land currently containing the ground was granted to a brewer, Jacob Letterstedt in 1845, who then presented it to his daughter, Lydia Corrina, as a wedding present upon her marriage to the Vicomte de Montmort. The land, partly wetland and heavily wooded, was rented to the Western Province Cricket Club in 1887 for £50, with a 25-year lease being signed in 1888 and the rental increased to £100. Each of the club's life members contributed £25 towards the costs, and a further £350 was received in donations towards the construction of a pavilion. The ground was levelled and officially opened with a two-day match between Mother Country and Colonial Born, which went on to become a regular feature. There was no scoreboard, and a pond existed behind the location of the current scoreboard. Before the arrival of the Australians in 1902, which included

Victor Trumper Victor Thomas Trumper (2 November 1877 – 28 June 1915) was an Australian cricketer known as the most stylish and versatile batsman of the Golden Age of cricket, capable of playing match-winning innings on wet wickets his contemporaries found ...

, the pine trees, which extended from the "B" field along Camp Ground Road and around the pavilion, were replaced by oak trees. This is the site of the current Oaks Enclosure, one of the most popular vantage points. A then-record crowd of 10 000 arrived to see the Test. Between 1991 and 1997 numerous changes were made to the ground. Large portions of the grass embankments were replaced by pavilions increasing the seating capacity to 25,000. In March 2019, it was announced that an office block development would be added to the historic cricket ground, as an addition to the existing stadium, making Newlands Cricket Ground a mixed-use precinct. The mixed-use precinct is owned by South African investment company,

(51%) and the

(49%).

Test cricket

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) ...

on 24 March 1889 when

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 ...

defeated South Africa by an innings and 202 runs. There have been 55 Test matches played at the ground of which South Africa has won 23, their opponents 21 and 11 which ended in a draw. The last team to beat South Africa there was

in January 2020.

Limited over cricket

The first One Day International played at the ground was on 7 December 1992 when South Africa beat

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

by 6 wickets. As of June 2019, there have been 41 One Day Internationals played at the ground including five in the

2003 Cricket World Cup The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup was the eighth Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya from 9 February to 23 March 2003. This edition of the World Cup was the ...

. South Africa has won 30 of its ODI games here and lost 6 (

being the most recent opposition victor in February 201

Newlands is one of the few cricket grounds in South Africa that tends to favour spinners. Most grounds tend to favour pacemen or batsmen, but the

Western Cape The Western Cape is a province of South Africa, situated on the south-western coast of the country. It is the fourth largest of the nine provinces with an area of , and the third most populous, with an estimated 7 million inhabitants in 2020 ...

has had a history of having very good spinners, a recent example being Paul Adams.

Office Block Development

In July 2016, the City of Cape Town approved the rezoning application to transform the Newlands Cricket Ground into a sustainable mixed-use sport, commercial, education and leisure-orientated precinct. The cricket field and surrounding seating were specifically excluded from any form of development. In March 2019 that the Newlands Cricket Ground would become a mixed-use precinct, extending beyond a cricket stadium, thanks to a commercial development and partnership between

and the

The first phase of the development is expected to be completed in December 2020, whilst the long-term plan for the Newlands Cricket Ground development will see further upgrades to the historic cricket ground that will take the project into 2024. According to the official website for the commercial development, JSE-listed AdvTech is the anchor tenant for the redevelopment.

Other sports

The ground has also hosted exhibition matches in Australian rules football. In 1998, a crowd of 10,123 saw the play .

Gallery

File:Newlands2.jpg, Newlands overlooked by Devil's Peak File:Newlands.jpg, Newlands Ground

References

External links

Newlands Cricket Ground - official cricket websiteNewlands Cricket Ground - official mixed-use precinct website
{{Cape Town, sports Sports venues in Cape Town Cricket grounds in South Africa

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

Test cricket grounds in South Africa Sports venues completed in 1888 Newlands, Cape Town 2003 Cricket World Cup stadiums