The Royal New Ground, also known as "

Box A box (plural: boxes) is a container used for the storage or transportation of its contents. Most boxes have flat, parallel, rectangular sides. Boxes can be very small (like a matchbox) or very large (like a shipping box for furniture), and can ...

's Ground", in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

was a venue 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 ...

matches from 1814 to 1847. Originally called "Brown's Ground" in the 18th century, it was located where

Park Crescent, Brighton Park Crescent is a mid-19th-century residential development in the Round Hill area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The horseshoe-shaped, three-part terrace of 48 houses was designed and built by one of Bright ...

now stands. The ground was the home of

Brighton Cricket Club Brighton Cricket Club was based at Brighton, Sussex and was briefly a top-class team, playing seven matches between 1791 and 1814 which have been given first-class cricket status. It is often seen as being representative of Sussex as a county.

and became the county ground of

Sussex CCC Sussex County Cricket Club is the oldest of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Sussex. Its limited overs team is called the Sussex Sharks. The cl ...

when this was formed in 1839. A total of 49 first-class matches were played there until September 1847. From 1848 to 1871, Sussex CCC used the

Royal Brunswick Ground The Royal Brunswick Ground, also known as "C H Gausden's Ground", in Hove, Sussex was a venue for first-class cricket matches from 1848 to 1871. The ground was situated to the west of the Brunswick Town area of Hove, roughly where Third and Fo ...

in Hove, also known as C H Gausden's Ground, and since 1872, the club has been based at the

County Cricket Ground, Hove The County Cricket Ground, known for Naming rights#Stadium naming, sponsorship reasons as The 1st Central County Ground, is a cricket venue in Hove, East Sussex, England. The County Ground is the home of Sussex County Cricket Club, where most Su ...

, its present home.

Cricket history

Apart from first-class matches, the ground hosted a number of other matches. In 1845, the ground hosted two matches in benefit of fast-bowler

George Brown George Brown may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Loring Brown (1814–1889), American landscape painter * George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), Scottish novelist * George Williams Brown (1894–1963), Canadian historian and editor * G ...

. The first was a match between Sussex and an All England team, which was won by the All England team. The second match was a

Gentlemen v Players Gentlemen v Players was a long-running series of English first-class cricket matches. Two matches were played in 1806, but the fixture was not played again until 1819. It became an annual event, usually played at least twice each season, exc ...

match which was heavily interrupted by rain, meaning only 85 runs were scored on the opening day's play. In 1846, a match took place between the Zingari Club and the officers of the

12th Lancers The 12th (Prince of Wales's) Royal Lancers was a cavalry regiment of the British Army first formed in 1715. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war ...

regiment, which included

Thomas Box Thomas Box (7 February 1808 – 12 July 1876) was a famous English cricketer who is remembered as one of the most outstanding wicketkeepers of the 19th century. Player Box played in important matches from 1826 to 1856. Although he played sever ...

John Wisden John Wisden (5 September 1826 – 5 April 1884) was an English cricketer who played 187 first-class cricket matches for three English county cricket teams, Kent, Middlesex and Sussex. His father, William, was a builder. He attended Brighton's ...

and James Hodson. Box top scored in the officer's first innings, scoring 44 of the 110 runs. In 1861, the ground hosted a single day match between Southdown and

Brighton College Brighton College is an independent, co-educational boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton, England. The school has three sites: Brighton College (the senior school, ages 11 to 18); Brighton College Preparatory Sc ...

, which ended with Southdown scoring 509/5. The last recorded match at Box's Ground was played in 1864 between

and

Eashing Shackleford is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Guildford, Surrey, England centred to the west of the A3 between Guildford and Petersfield southwest of London and southwest of Guildford. Shackleford includes the localities of ...

Park Cricket Club in 1864. Brighton won the match by 30 runs.

Other history

In 1860, Box's Ground hosted a United States Circus containing the largest equestrian company in the world at the time.

Cricket history

Other history

References

Further reading