Benjamin's Park is a sporting venue in

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port city status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. Most of Portsmouth is located on Portsea Island, off the south coast of England in the Solent, making Portsmouth the only city in En ...

Dominica Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the Caribbean. It is part of the Windward Islands chain in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of t ...

, located away from the capital,

Roseau Roseau (Dominican Creole French, Dominican Creole: ''Wozo'') is the capital and largest city of Dominica, with a population of 14,725 as of 2011. It is a small and compact urban settlement, in the Saint George Parish, Dominica, Saint George Pa ...

. The venue's primary use is as a

cricket ground 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 (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the ...

, and it has held home matches for the

Windward Islands The Windward Islands are the southern, generally larger islands of the Lesser Antilles of the Caribbean islands or the West Indies. Located approximately between latitudes 10° and 16° N and longitudes 60° and 62° W, they extend from D ...

, as well as several matches in regional tournaments.

History

What is now Benjamin's Park was originally designed as Portsmouth's main public square, according to the 1765 town plan laid out by a

Royal Engineer The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is the engineering arm of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces ...

. During the 1980s, the park was the proposed site for a "multi-purpose community complex", financed entirely by the People's Republic of China. However, the Dominican government never agreed to the project. In January 2007, the ground hosted two home fixtures for the Windward Islands against

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, a four-day

Carib Beer Cup The Regional Four Day Competition, formerly known as the Shell Shield, Red Stripe, Busta and Carib Beer Cup, is the West Indian cricket team, West Indies's First Class Cricket, first-class cricket competition that's run by Cricket West Indies. ...

match followed by a one-day KFC Cup match. The four-day game was the first first-class match played in Dominica since 2004, with Benjamin's Park becoming the third ground in Dominica to host first-class cricket (after

Windsor Park The National Football Stadium at Windsor Park (officially the Clearer Twist National Stadium at Windsor Park for sponsorship reasons), or the National Football Stadium, also known as Windsor Park is a association football, football stadium in B ...

and the

Botanical Gardens A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

, both in Roseau). Both matches were interrupted by rain, with the one-day fixture ending in a

no result The result in a game of cricket may be a "win" for one of the two teams playing, or a "tie". In the case of a limited overs game, the game can also end with "no result" if the game can't be finished on time (usually due to weather or bad ligh ...

, but the second day of the four-day match, a Sunday, saw an attendance of around 4,000. Benjamin's Park had been upgraded to

West Indies Cricket Board Cricket West Indies (CWI) is the governing body for cricket in the West Indies (a sporting confederation of over a dozen mainly Commonwealth Caribbean, English-speaking Caribbean countries and dependencies that once formed the British West Ind ...

(WICB) standard with money from the

Stanford 20/20 The Stanford 20/20 was a short-lived cricket tournament in the Caribbean island of Antigua. It was held first in July and August 2006 in the West Indies at the Stanford Cricket Ground, St. John's, Antigua and Barbuda, and then again in the sa ...

tournament, and was used while Windsor Park was being upgraded for the 2007 World Cup. In 2008, Benjamin's Park hosted a Windward Islands Tournament fixture for the first time, when

Saint Lucia Saint Lucia is an island country of the West Indies in the eastern Caribbean. Part of the Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, it is located north/northeast of the island of Saint Vincent (Saint Vincent and the Grenadines), Saint Vincent ...

played

Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, sometimes known simply as Saint Vincent or SVG, is an island country in the eastern Caribbean. It is located in the southeast Windward Islands of the Lesser Antilles, which lie in the West Indies, at the south ...

. It was again used for the competition during the 2012–13 season, but is yet to see any home games for the Dominican national side. When Bangladesh toured the West Indies in 2009, Benjamin's Park was used for a limited-overs game between the Bangladeshis and a

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 18 English-speaking countries and territories in t ...

Vice-Chancellor's XI, although the match did not have

list-A List A cricket is a classification of the limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competitions in which the numb ...

status. In August 2014, the ground was used for a number of the matches in the WICB Regional Women's Championship, which was hosted by Dominica as a whole. Later in the year, in December, a new

government A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state. In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...

-sponsored training facility, the Dominica Cricket Academy, was opened at the ground."Dominica Cricket Academy officially launched"
– Government of the Commonwealth of Dominica. Retrieved 20 May 2015.

Records

First-class

* Highest team total: 183/9 dec. by

, 2006/07Windward Islands v Barbados
Carib Beer Cup 2006/07 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 May 2015. * Lowest team total: 91 all out by Windward Islands v Barbados, 2006/07 * Highest individual innings: 44 by

Dale Richards Dale Maurice Richards (born 16 July 1976) is a former West Indian international cricketer who played first class cricket for Barbados. A right-handed batsman, Richards debuted in 1999/2000. His highest first class score of 159 was made against ...

for Barbados v Windward Islands, 2006/07 * Best bowling in an innings: 6/24 by

Pedro Collins Pedro Tyrone Collins (born 12 August 1976) is a Barbadoan cricketer and coach, who played as a fast bowler for the West Indies. Collins also featured for Barbados, Surrey and Middlesex in his cricketing career. International career As a left-h ...

for Barbados v Windward Islands, 2006/07

List A

* Highest team total: 82/3 by Barbados v Windward Islands, 2006/07Windward Islands v Barbados
KFC Cup 2006/07 – CricketArchive. Retrieved 20 May 2015. * Lowest team total: 82/3 by Barbados v Windward Islands, 2006/07 * Highest individual innings: 27 by

Wayne Blackman Wayne Blackman (born 25 December 1975) is a Barbadian cricketer. He played in fifteen first-class and seven List A matches for the Barbados cricket team from 1999 to 2007. See also * List of Barbadian representative cricketers This is a list ...

for Barbados v Windward Islands, 2006/07 * Best bowling in an innings: 2/33 by Deighton Butler for Windward Islands v Barbados, 2006/07

References

{{reflist, 30em Cricket grounds in Dominica Football venues in Dominica Saint John Parish, Dominica