The Town Ground 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 ...

Worksop Worksop ( ) is a market town in the Bassetlaw District in Nottinghamshire, England. It is located south of Doncaster, south-east of Sheffield and north of Nottingham. Located close to Nottinghamshire's borders with South Yorkshire and Derbys ...

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

. The ground is located in the town centre between the

Chesterfield Canal The Chesterfield Canal is a narrow canal in the East Midlands of England and it is known locally as 'Cuckoo Dyke'. It was one of the last of the canals designed by James Brindley, who died while it was being constructed. It was opened in 1777 ...

and the

River Ryton The River Ryton is a tributary of the River Idle. It rises close to the Chesterfield Canal near Kiveton Park, and is joined by a series of tributaries near Lindrick Common in the Metropolitan Borough of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. M ...

. It played host to first-class and

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 ...

matches for

Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Nottinghamshire 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 Nottinghamshire. The club's limited overs team is called th ...

between 1921 and 1998.

History

The land on which the Town Ground was built was previously agricultural land. It was given to the town's cricket club in 1900 by a local brewer, William Allen. Construction of the ground required the land to be levelled by some , which some locals believed to be an error as the ground now lies below the water level of the nearby

. Construction was completed by 1901 and included a

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings; * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

, with the new cricket ground replacing one which had been sited south of the River Ryton. The ground was due to be opened in 1901 with a match between Worksop and Nottinghamshire Club and Ground, but the match was abandoned due to rain. The ground was adjoined on its eastern side by the stadium of

Worksop Town F.C. Worksop Town Football Club is an English Association football, football club based in Worksop, Nottinghamshire. The team play in the . They are nicknamed ''The Tigers'' and play their home games at Sandy Lane in Worksop. History Previous club ...

first played at the ground in a first-class match against

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 ...

in the 1921 County Championship. Nottinghamshire played there twelve times prior to the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. After a gap of twenty years, Nottinghamshire returned to the ground in 1959 and often played matches there in July to coincide with the annual holidays at the local coalfields. Worksop is located just a few miles from the

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

border, with

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 ...

being the visitors on thirteen occasions. Their affinity with the ground led to success for Yorkshire players such as

Geoffrey Boycott Sir Geoffrey Boycott (born 21 October 1940) is a former Test cricketer, who played cricket for Yorkshire and England. In a prolific and sometimes controversial playing career from 1962 to 1986, Boycott established himself as one of England's m ...

who scored over 900 runs on the ground and averaged well over 100, and

Fred Trueman Frederick Sewards Trueman, (6 February 1931 – 1 July 2006) was an English cricketer who played for Yorkshire County Cricket Club and the England cricket team. He had professional status and later became an author and broadcaster. Acknowled ...

who once took figures of 8 for 84 in 1962. Nottinghamshire played first-class cricket at the ground until 1998, having played 48 first-class matches there in the

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 ...

, Nottinghamshire also played three List A one-day matches at the Town Ground in the

John Player League 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 day ...

between 1970 and 1980, with

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

's Mike Buss making the only List A

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

at the ground with a score of 121 in 1971. Facilities at the ground have been improved over time, with the original pavilion being replaced by a new pavilion in 1972 containing both squash and cricket facilities and was further extended by the cricket club in 1987. The adjoining football club left in 1988, having been evicted. The land occupied by the football club was subsequently sold off for commercial development. The ground was hit by flooding in June 2007. The largest crowd to watch a

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 ...

match at the Town Ground is the 7,000 who attended the game against Yorkshire in 1966, though attendances for county matches typically averaged between 4,000–4,500.

Records

First-class

* Highest team total: 540 all out by

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 ...

, 1934 :* Nottinghamshire scored their runs in a single day. * Lowest team total: 54 all out by

v Nottinghamshire, 1980 * Highest individual innings: 235 by Steve James 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 Nottinghamshire, 1996 * Best bowling in an innings: 8-84 by

for

v Nottinghamshire, 1962 * Best bowling in a match: 12-130 by Fred Barratt for Nottinghamshire v Worcestershire, 1935

List A

* Highest team total: 273 for 4 (39 overs) by

v Nottinghamshire, 1971 * Lowest team total: 125 for 8 (23 overs) by Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire, 1970 * Highest individual innings: 121 by Michael Buss for Sussex v Nottinghamshire, 1971 * Best bowling in an innings: 4-39 by David Halfyard for Nottinghamshire v Derbyshire, 1970

References

{{Nottinghamshire CCC Worksop Sports venues in Nottinghamshire Cricket grounds in Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire County Cricket Club Squash venues Defunct football venues in England