New Road Worcester - 1 - geograph-891458

Visit Worcestershire New Road is a

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 ...

ground in the English city of Worcester. The home of

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 ...

since 1896, it has been rated as one of the world's most beautiful cricket grounds.

Overview

The ground is situated in central Worcester, on the west bank of the

River Severn The River Severn (, ), at long, is the longest river in Great Britain. It is also the river with the most voluminous flow of water by far in all of England and Wales, with an average flow rate of at Apperley, Gloucestershire. It rises in t ...

, overlooked by

Worcester Cathedral Worcester Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of Christ and Blessed Mary the Virgin, is a Church of England cathedral in Worcester, England, Worcester, England. The cathedral is the seat of the bishop of Worcester and is the Mother Church# ...

on the opposite bank. Immediately to the northwest is a road called New Road, part of the A44, hence the name. To the northwest is Cripplegate Park. Originally, the freehold to the ground was owned by the Dean and Chapter of

. In 1896, the

leasehold A leasehold estate is an ownership of a temporary right to hold land or property in which a Lease, lessee or a tenant has rights of real property by some form of title (property), title from a lessor or landlord. Although a tenant does hold right ...

was obtained by club secretary Paul Foley upon payment of a modest rent, and the first match (against

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

) was played there on 28–29 July of the following year. At the time, Worcestershire was part of the newly created

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

, which Foley had been largely responsible in establishing. Having won the competition in its first four years, from 1895 to 1898, the club applied successfully for first-class status. The first

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 New Road was held on 4–6 May 1899, when the home side lost to

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 ...

by 11 runs. The land was finally purchased in 1976 for the sum of £30,000. The capacity of the ground is 4,500, small by first-class standards. There is a small cricket shop located just outside the ground, selling cricket equipment, clothing, books and accessories. This shop opened in July 2008, replacing a long-standing older shop inside the ground. The shop also contains the administrative office for ticket sales and enquiries.

Elton John Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, songwriter and pianist. His music and showmanship have had a significant, lasting impact on the music industry, and his songwriting partnership with l ...

performed to a crowd of 17,000 at the ground in June 2006.

Flooding

In winter, the ground is often submerged by water from the nearby river, and was severely affected by the floods of July 2007. These caused more than one million pounds in damage, and cricket did not return to the ground until the beginning of the following season. Over the winter of 2023–24 the ground was flooded seven times, which resulted in the first two home games of the 2024 County Championship being played at the Chester Road North Ground in

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 ...

. In April 2024, Worcestershire's board confirmed that they were looking at options to secure the club's long-term future, possibly including a move away from New Road. Speaking on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's ''

Test Match Special ''Test Match Special'' (also known as ''TMS'') is a British sports radio programme, originally, as its name implies, dealing exclusively with Test cricket matches, but currently covering any professional cricket. The programme is available on BB ...

'' podcast, chief executive Ashley Giles explained that of the 30 occasions on which the ground had been flooded since 1899, 19 incidents had occurred in the past 24 years, and the problem was expected to get worse due to

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

International cricket

New Road Worcester - 3 - geograph-891443

New Road has hosted three men's

One Day International One Day International (ODI) is a format of cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of fifty overs, with the game lasting up to 7 hours. The World Cup, generally held every four yea ...

s: one in the 1983 World Cup, when Gordon Greenidge scored 105 not out (the only men's international century at the ground) to take the

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

to an eight-wicket victory over

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

;West Indies v Zimbabwe, 2003
/ref> and two in the 1999 World Cup: a six-wicket victory for

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 ...

over

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

Australia v Scotland, 1999
/ref> and a four-wicket victory for

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

over Zimbabwe.Sri Lanka v Zimbabwe, 1999
/ref> The ground has also seen nine Women's Test matches between 1951 and 2009, including the England Women's decisive victory during the 2005 Ashes, in which Katherine Brunt scored 52 and took match figures of 9/111;England Women v Australia Women, 2005
/ref> Brunt also took a first-innings 6/69 in the 2009 Ashes Test at Worcester, which was drawn. It has staged seven Women's ODI between 2000 and 2021, and one

Women's Twenty20 International Women's Twenty20 international (WT20I) is the shortest form of women's international cricket. A women's Twenty20 international is a 20 overs-per-side cricket match between two of the International Cricket Council (ICC) members. The very firs ...

in 2022. The England Lions (formerly England A) played a four-day match against the Australian touring side at New Road in 2009; in a drawn match, Mike Hussey (150) and

Marcus North Marcus James North (born 28 July 1979) is a former Australian first-class cricketer who played 21 Test matches and two One Day Internationals (ODIs) for the Australian national side. Born in Melbourne, North grew up in Western Australia, att ...

(191 not out) made runs, while Worcestershire's Stephen Moore responded with 120;

Brett Lee Brett Lee (born 8 November 1976) is an Australian former international cricketer, who played all three formats of the game. During his international career, Lee was recognised as one of the fastest bowlers in the world. With his time representin ...

took 6/76.

Records

Men's One-Day Internationals

* Matches: 3 * Highest team total:
218/2 (48.3 overs) by

, 1983 * Lowest team total:
181/7 (50 overs) by

, 1999 * Highest individual innings:
105 * by Gordon Greenidge for West Indies v. Zimbabwe, 1983 * Best bowling in an innings:
3–30 by Pramodya Wickramasinghe for

v. Zimbabwe, 1999

Women's Tests

* Matches: 9 * Highest team total:
427/4 declared by Australia Women v. England Women, 1998 * Lowest team total:
63 by New Zealand Women v. England Women, 1954 * Highest individual innings:
190 by Sandhya Agarwal, India Women v. England Women, 1986England Women v. India Women, 1986
/ref> * Best bowling in an innings:
7/34 by Gill McConway, England Women v. India Women, 1986 * Best bowling in a match:
9/107 by Mary Duggan for England Women v. Australia Women, 1951
9/111 by Katherine Brunt for England Women v. Australia Women, 2005

First-class

* Highest team total:
701/4 declared by

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

v. Worcestershire, 1906
701/6 declared by Worcestershire v

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, 2007 * Lowest team total:
30 by

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, ...

v. Worcestershire, 1903 * Triple centuries:
331 * by Jack Robertson for

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 ...

v. Worcestershire, 1949
315 * by Graeme Hick for Worcestershire v. Durham, 2002
311 * by

Glenn Turner Glenn Maitland Turner (born 26 May 1947) played cricket for New Zealand and was one of the country's most prolific batsmen. He played domestically for Otago for most of his career and played in England for Worcestershire County Cricket Club ...

for Worcestershire v.

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It is bordered by Staffordshire and Leicestershire to the north, Northamptonshire to the east, Ox ...

, 1982 * Ten wickets in an innings:
10–51 by Jack Mercer for

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

v. Worcestershire, 1936
10–76 by

Jack White John Anthony White (; born July 9, 1975) is an American musician who achieved international fame as the guitarist and lead singer of the rock duo the White Stripes. As the White Stripes disbanded, he sought success with his solo career, subse ...

for

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

v. Worcestershire, 1921Same match
Worcs v Somst, 1921
/ref> * Fifteen wickets in a match:
15–106 by Reg Perks for Worcestershire v.

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, 1937
15–175 by

for Somerset v. Worcestershire, 1921

List A

* Highest team total:
404/3 (60 overs) by Worcestershire v.

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, 1987Same match
Worcs v Devon, 1987
/ref> * Lowest team total:
45 (23.4 overs) by Hampshire v. Worcestershire, 1988 * Highest individual innings:
172 * by Graeme Hick v. Devon, 1987 * Best bowling in an innings:
6–14 by Jack Flavell for Worcestershire v.

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, 1963
6–14 by Howard Cooper for

v. Worcestershire, 1975
6–16 by Shoaib Akhtar for Worcestershire v.

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( , ; abbreviated Glos.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Herefordshire to the north-west, Worcestershire to the north, Warwickshire to the north-east, Oxfordshire ...

, 2005Worcs v Gloucs, 2005
/ref>

References

Sources

* * {{Cricket in England Cricket grounds in Worcestershire Sport in Worcester, England Roads in Worcestershire Transport in Worcester, England Sports venues completed in 1896