The Chester Road North Ground, often referred to simply as Chester Road or Kidderminster, is 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 ...

Kidderminster Kidderminster is a market town and civil parish in Worcestershire, England, south-west of Birmingham and north of Worcester, England, Worcester. Located north of the River Stour, Worcestershire, River Stour and east of the River Severn, in th ...

Worcestershire Worcestershire ( , ; written abbreviation: Worcs) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Shropshire, Staffordshire, and the West Midlands (county), West ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. It is the home of

Kidderminster Cricket Club Kidderminster Cricket Club is a cricket club in Kidderminster, Worcestershire, England. Their 1st and 2nd XIs currently play in the Birmingham and District Premier League Premier Division. Their 3rd, 4th and 5th XIs play in the Worcestershire C ...

, and is currently used for

Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebranded ...

's Second XI matches. It was opened in 1870.

International cricket

Kidderminster hosted international cricket in 2005 when the second

Women's One-day International Women's One Day International (ODI) is the limited overs form of women's cricket. Matches are scheduled for 50 overs, equivalent to the men's game. The first women's ODIs were played in 1973, as part of the first Women's World Cup which was ...

between

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

was played here. The Australians won by 65 runs thanks largely to 7-24 from

Shelley Nitschke Shelley Nitschke (born 3 December 1976) is a female cricketer who played for South Australia and Australia. A left-handed batter and left arm orthodox spinner, she was one of the leading all-rounders in the world until her retirement in 2011. In ...

, who became the first Australian woman to take more than five wickets in an ODI.

First-class and List A cricket

Worcestershire played one

County Championship The County Championship, currently known for sponsorship reasons as the Rothesay County Championship, is the only domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales. Established in 1890, it is organised by the England and Wales Cri ...

match at Kidderminster every season from 1921 until 1973, and again each year from 1987 to 2002. Chester Road was then relegated to a Second-XI ground, and the only first-class game at Kidderminster for several years was Worcestershire's 2005 game against Loughborough UCCE, which the university side won by eight wickets. In 2007, with New Road badly affected by flooding, Kidderminster hosted two Championship games, while in 2008 Loughborough UCCE again visited. First-class cricket returned to Kidderminster in June 2019 when Worcestershire transferred their game against Sussex to the ground because of the threat of flooding at New Road. Worcestershire's first two home matches in the

2024 County Championship The 2024 County Championship (referred to as the Vitality County Championship for sponsorship reasons) was the 124th County Championship cricket season in England and Wales. As in 2023, Division One had ten teams and Division Two had eight teams. ...

were played at Kidderminster in April 2024 because of flooding at New Road. In

List A cricket 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 num ...

, one Player's County League game was held here in 1969, and a further six List A matches — three involving the Worcestershire team proper and three more contested by the recreational Worcestershire Cricket Board team — were hosted between 2000 and 2002. A further

Pro40 The NatWest Pro40 League was a one-day cricket league for first-class cricket counties in England and Wales. It was inaugurated in 1999, but was essentially the old Sunday League retitled to reflect large numbers of matches being played on da ...

game was played there in 2007, as were two

Twenty20 Twenty20 (abbreviated T20) is a shortened format of cricket. At the professional level, it was introduced by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) in 2003 for the county cricket, inter-county competition. In a Twenty20 game, the two t ...

matches. In 2010, the ground hosted the

Unicorns The unicorn is a legendary creature that has been described since Classical antiquity, antiquity as a beast with a single large, pointed, spiraling horn (anatomy), horn projecting from its forehead. In European literature and art, the unico ...

team in the Pro40 competition.

Records

First-class

* Highest team total: 560 by Worcestershire v

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, 1993 * Lowest team total: 63 by Worcestershire v

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire ( ; abbreviated Northants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Leicestershire, Rutland and Lincolnshire to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshi ...

, 1963 * Highest individual innings: 259 by

Don Kenyon Donald Kenyon (15 May 1924 – 12 November 1996) was an English first-class cricketer, who played in eight Tests for England from 1951 to 1955. He captained Worcestershire between 1959 and 1967. Cricket writer, Colin Bateman, noted, "A polish ...

for Worcestershire v

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

, 1956 * Best bowling in an innings: 9-56 by

Jack Flavell Jack Flavell (15 May 1929 – 25 February 2004) was an English cricketer who played in four Tests for England from 1961 to 1964. His county cricket career was spent with Worcestershire, with whom Flavell won two County Championship titles. His ...

for Worcestershire v

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

, 1964

List A

* Highest team total: 281/7 (40 overs) by Worcestershire v

, 2007Same match. * Lowest team total: 56 (27.1 overs) by Middlesex v Worcestershire, 1969 * Highest individual innings: 100 by

Moeen Ali Moeen Munir Ali (born 18 June 1987) is an English cricketer, who was formerly vice-captain of England in limited overs cricket. He played for England cricket team between 2014 and 2024. In domestic cricket he represents Warwickshire, having p ...

for Worcestershire v Northamptonshire, 2007Same match. * Best bowling in an innings: 5-36 by

Imran Jamshed Worcestershire Cricket Board played in List A cricket, List A cricket matches between 1999 and 2003. This is a list of the players who appeared in those matches. *Kabir Ali (2000–2001): Kabir Ali *Kadeer Ali (1999–20020: Kadeer Ali *David Ban ...

for Worcestershire Cricket Board v

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

, 2002

Notes

References

Chester Road North Ground, Kidderminster
from CricketArchive. Retrieved 19 December 2006. Cricket grounds in Worcestershire Kidderminster Sports venues completed in 1870 {{England-cricket-ground-stub