The Albert Ground was a cricket ground located in the

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

suburb of Redfern between 1864 and 1877.Albert Cricket Ground
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History

Cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

had been played in

NSW New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a state on the east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria to the south, and South Australia to the west. Its coast borders the Coral and Tasman Seas to the east. T ...

since 1803, first in Hyde Park and then in the

Domain A domain is a geographic area controlled by a single person or organization. Domain may also refer to: Law and human geography * Demesne, in English common law and other Medieval European contexts, lands directly managed by their holder rather ...

. Neither were satisfactory facilities mainly because they were open grounds on which spectators walked and animals grazed. Fences could not be erected to keep people and animals out or to charge much needed admission. When the Albert Ground opened in Redfern on 29 October 1864, these problems appeared to be solved. The ground had been developed as a money-making venture in the swampy area that Redfern was at the time. Despite this, the Albert Ground had significant advantages over Sydney’s existing cricket facilities. It was centrally located and featured good facilities for players and crowd alike. There was a grandstand in the north west corner and a pavilion ran around three sides of the ground. A row of trees had been planted by the English cricket tourists of 1863-1864 captained by George Parr. The pitch was made of a matted couch grass and was very spongy and soft. It was a slow pitch that favoured the bowlers. The ground was the home of the Albert Club, one of the most powerful in Sydney, which could boast three teams of 11. The club’s players wore white caps and pants and blue shirts and counted amongst their number the greatest bowler of the day ‘The Demon’ Fred Spofforth. Above all however, the Albert Ground had been established as a business with the aim of making money and fees were charged to those who wanted to use it, including the NSW Cricket Association. The cost to the NSWCA of staging matches there was so high that until the early 1870s it continued to use the Domain whenever possible despite its disadvantages. By then inter-colonial games had become so important and popular that the NSWCA had little choice but to use the Albert Ground for these at least. In all, five first-class matches were played at the Albert Ground between the 1870 and 1877 seasons. In the late 1870s however, the Albert Ground company was wound up and the ground closed. The NSWCA began using the Garrison Ground at Moore Park, later to be renamed the Association Ground and then the

Sydney Cricket Ground The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) is a sports stadium in the Moore Park, New South Wales, Moore Park suburb of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is used for Test cricket, Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as, Australi ...

. Eventually the Albert Ground was demolished. The Albert Ground was located to the east of Redfern Oval in the block now roughly bounded by Elizabeth, Phillip, Kettle and Moorehead Streets. The site is now consists of housing, the PCYC South Sydney and vacant land that is fenced off.

List of cricket matches

Below is a list of the

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 of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

matches that were played at the Albert Ground.

References

Cashman, Richard (1990) ''‘The Demon’ Spofforth'' Kensington: UNSW Press Pollard, Jack (1990) ''Australia'' In: Test Match Grounds London: Willow Books Vamplew, Wray; Moore, Katharine; O’Hara, John; Chashman, Richard; and Jobling, Ian ditors(1997) ''The Oxford Companion to Australian Sport'' Second Edition Melbourne: Oxford University Press Willis, James (1868) ''Map of Port Jackson and City of Sydney showing the adjacent municipalities NSW'' In: Sydney Takes Shape: A history in maps Paul Ashton and Duncan Waterson editors Brisbane: HEMA Maps 2000.

External links

International cricket match, Albert Ground, Sydney
{{Coord, 33, 53.7, S, 151, 12.5, E, type:landmark_region:AU-NSW, display=title Defunct cricket grounds in Australia Sports venues completed in 1864