North Dalton Park is located on Pioneer Rd,

Towradgi Towradgi () is a small beach-side suburb approximately north of Wollongong, New South Wales, Australia. Towradgi is derived from the Dharawal word ''Kow-radgi'', meaning "guardian of the sacred stones". On an early map it was called Towroger. T ...

, in the northern suburbs of

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wate ...

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The ground has a grandstand on the western side, where 430 plastic bucket seats were installed over the concrete steps in early 2017. The remainder of the ground is surrounded by a small hill which gives the ground an overall capacity of around 5,430. The LED scoreboard is at the northern end of the ground. From the eastern hill, the ground has views of the mountain backdrop. The ground was re-surfaced in 2007, and broadcast quality floodlights were installed. The ground is home to the

Wollongong Lions Illawarra Lions is an Australian rules football club competing in the Sydney AFL league and based out of Wollongong. The club was formerly known as Wollongong Lions, but changed their name in 2011 in response to their designated pathway area b ...

in the AFL South Coast competition and the Wollongong Lions Junior AFL Club. The venue is also the home of Cricket Illawarra. An interstate Ford Ranger Cup match was scheduled there on Sunday 9 December 2007, but rain in the days leading up to the match led to the game being abandoned without a ball bowled. North Dalton Park is the main ground in Thomas Dalton Park Regional Sports Centre. North Dalton Park is the main AFL/Cricket venue in the Illawarra Region.

Events

On 12 Dec, 1995, the ground featured a match between the touring

West Indies The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greater A ...

and the

Australian Cricket Academy The Australian Cricket Academy was founded in 1987 as a joint initiative of the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) and the Australian Cricket Board (ACB). It was initially located at Henley Beach in Adelaide before moving to the Allan Border Fie ...

. The Academy side featured players like

Mike Hussey Michael Edward Killeen Hussey (born 27 May 1975) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator and former international cricketer, who played all forms of the game. Hussey is also widely known by his nickname 'Mr Cricket'. Hussey was a relative la ...

, Matthew Nicholson,

Mark Harrity Mark Andrew Harrity (born 9 March 1974) is an Australian former cricketer. He was born in Semaphore, a suburb of Adelaide. He was a very fast bowler but saw his career repeatedly interrupted by injury. Harrity made his first-class debut in the ...

, Corey Richards and

Matthew Mott Matthew Peter Mott (born 3 October 1973) is an Australian cricket coach and a former first-class cricketer. He is the former coach of the Australian Women's Cricket Team. He currently coaches the England men's white-ball cricket team. Playing c ...

. The West Indies were dismissed for just 92 runs in 33.5 overs. The Academy side chased down the runs in 28.4 overs losing just 2 wickets. The ground hosted a Ford Ranger Cup match on 26 January 2010 between NSW vs South Australia, drawing 2,909 spectators. Tickets for this match were $15 for Adults, $10 for Concession, $5 for kids and $35 for a family. In July 2014 North Dalton Park hosted a game between the Ainslie Football Club and the

Sydney Swans The Sydney Swans are a professional Australian rules football club based in Sydney, New South Wales. The men's team competes in the Australian Football League (AFL), and the women's team in the AFL Women's (AFLW). The Swans also field a reser ...

Reserves as part of the

North East Australian Football League The North East Australian Football League (NEAFL) was an Australian rules football league in New South Wales, Queensland, the Australian Capital Territory and the Northern Territory. The league was formed in November 2010, and its inaugural co ...

(NEAFL). North Dalton Park hosted a Toyota Futures League match between NSW (2nd XI) and ACT in November 2016. On 27 December 2016 an electronic scoreboard was installed at North Dalton Park in time for the Australian Country Cricket Championships which Wollongong was hosting from 2–11 January 2017. In February 2017 North Dalton Park hosted a Sheffield Shield match between NSW Blues and Tasmania Tigers. In the weeks leading up to the Sheffield Shield match new seats were installed in the grandstand bringing the grandstand seating capacity from 280 to 430. New sight screens were also installed. On day 1 of the Sheffield Shield match a crowd of 1,082 attended, Day 2 produced a crowd of 1,405, Day 3 saw 448 people come through the gates and in the rained-out Day 4 an estimated 50 People attended. Entry for this match was a gold coin donation supporting Cricket Illawarra. Free Programs were given out by Illawarra Junior cricketers at the Southern Gate. Food stalls were located in the Family Zone in the South-East corner of the venue as well as a bar in the Alcohol Zone at the northern end of the grandstand. On 12 December 2017, the

Sydney Sixers The Sydney Sixers are an Australian professional franchise men's cricket team, competing in Australia's domestic Twenty20 cricket competition, the Big Bash League (BBL). Along with the Sydney Thunder, the Sixers are the successors of the New ...

hosted

Perth Scorchers The Perth Scorchers is an Australian domestic Twenty20 franchise cricket team representing the Western Australian city of Perth in the Big Bash League (BBL). The Scorchers are the current BBL Champions, having defeated the Sydney Sixers in the ...

in a WBBL match. This took place at 12pm, preceding a BBL trial match between

and

Hobart Hurricanes The Hobart Hurricanes are an Australian professional men's T20 franchise cricket team based in Tasmania, Australia. They compete in Australia's domestic T20 cricket competition known as the Big Bash League, which is a league where many in ...

at 4:30pm. Entry for this match was a gold coin donation with many free giveaways and activities around the ground. The crowd for the WBBL peaked at 1,222 and the BBL attracted a record crowd of 4,371. In March 2018, NSW Blues will host QLD Bulls in round 10 of the

Sheffield Shield The Sheffield Shield (currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Marsh Sheffield Shield) is the domestic first-class cricket competition of Australia. The tournament is contested between teams from the six states of Australia. Sheffield Shi ...

Transport

The ground is a 14-minute walk from Fairy Meadow train station and a 23-minute walk from Towradgi station.

References

External links

* {{official, www.northdaltonpark.com.au Sports venues in New South Wales Sport in Wollongong Cricket grounds in New South Wales North East Australian Football League grounds