Day's Itchen Ground was 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 ...

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, which hosted first-class cricket from 1848 to 1850.

History

County cricket Inter-county cricket matches have been played since the early 18th century, involving teams that are representative of the historic counties of England and Wales. Two county championship competitions have existed since the late 19th century at ...

in Southampton had been played across the River Itchen at the

Antelope Ground The Antelope Ground, Southampton was a sports ground that was the first home of both Hampshire County Cricket Club, who played there prior to 1884, and of Southampton Football Club, who played there from 1887 to 1896 as "Southampton St. Mary's ...

since 1839. In 1845, the ground was threatened by building speculation, which prompted Daniel Day to move to a ground across the river at Woolston on a field owned by the Woolston Hotel. The ground's total area was roughly , with a wooden

cricket pavilion A cricket pavilion is a pavilion at a cricket ground. It is the main building within which the players usually change in dressing rooms and which is the main location for watching the cricket match for members and others. Pavilions can vary from ...

being constructed on its north side. The first match was played there in March 1846, when the Married of Southampton played the Single of Southampton.

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 ...

was first played there in 1848, when

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

played the

All-England Eleven In English cricket since the first half of the 18th century, various ''ad hoc'' teams have been formed for short-term purposes which have been called England (or sometimes "All-England"; i.e., in the sense of "the rest of England") to play against ...

. Subsequently, two further first-class matches were played there between the sides in 1849 and 1850. Day found the ground to be financially unviable, having cost him between £1,000 and £2,000. He moved to

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 ...

to manage the East Hampshire Cricket Ground at

Southsea Southsea is a seaside resort and a geographic area of Portsmouth, Portsea Island in the ceremonial county of Hampshire, England. Southsea is located 1.8 miles (2.8 km) to the south of Portsmouth's inner city-centre. Southsea began as a f ...

when the lease at the Itchen Ground expired in 1851. The ground was subsequently built over in the 1850s, with first-class cricket in Southampton returning to the Antelope Ground until 1884.

Records

First-class

* Highest team total: 131 all out by

All England Eleven In English cricket since the first half of the 18th century, various ''ad hoc'' teams have been formed for short-term purposes which have been called England (or sometimes "All-England"; i.e., in the sense of "the rest of England") to play against ...

, 1850 * Lowest team total: 22 all out by All England Eleven v Hampshire, 1848 * Highest individual innings: 46 by Joe Guy for All England Eleven v Hampshire, 1850 * Best bowling in an innings: 8-1? (scorecard incomplete) by

William Hillyer William Richard Hillyer (5 March 1813 – 8 January 1861), was a prominent 19th century English professional cricketer for Kent County Cricket Club, Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) and many other sides in the days before county and international ...

, as above * Best bowling in a match: 14-48 by William Hillyer for All England Eleven v Hampshire, 1848

References

External links

Day's Itchen Ground
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPNcricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

{{coord, 50.8971, -1.3736, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title Sport in Southampton Sports venues completed in 1846 Defunct sports venues in Hampshire Defunct cricket grounds in England Cricket grounds in Hampshire