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Cricket Stadiums; The Oval - More than just a Cricket ground

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Cricket Stadiums; The Oval - More than just a Cricket ground

The Oval, now known as The Brit Oval, was the first ground in the United Kingdom and the second in the world, after the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The international cricket ground is situated in Kennington, London, and is sometimes also referred to as the Kennington Oval. It has had other names in the past, some of which are; AMP Oval, Foster’s Oval and the current Brit Oval. The Oval is home ground to Surrey County Cricket Club and usually hosts the last Test match of each English summer season.

The Oval was owned by the Duchy of Cornwall, when the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Surrey-c851 County Cricket Club was set up in 1845 and they managed to get a lease on the ground for the purpose of using it as a cricket ground. The club signed a lease for 31 years at an annual rent of £120 plus taxes, which were around £20 or more. The Oval ground saw its first match in 1868, the Aboriginal Cricket Tour of England, the first foreign tour in England. It was attended by some 20,000 spectators, a major success of its time.

The Secretary of Surrey from the year 1872 to 1907, C. W. Alcock managed to arrange the first ever Test match in England in 1880, between England and Australia, which was played at The Oval. This made The Oval the second ground to host an international Test, after the Melbourne Cricket Ground. In 1882, the traditional “Ashes” between http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Australia-c746 and England, was born at The Oval when the Australians won the Test against England in two days by seven runs.

The nail biting match which resulted in an Australian victory was described as one of the “closest finishes in the history of cricket”. The England captain, Ivo Bligh claimed he would “regain the ashes”, when a group of women from Melbourne gave Bligh an urn which contained the ashes of cricket equipment, either a ball or stump. The British newspaper, The Sporting Times gave it the name ‘Ashes’. They printed quite a few mock obituaries, which suggested that English cricket had died at The Oval, thus giving birth to the Ashes.

Almost all of the first class cricketing nations have played at The Oval, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zimbabwe-c3045 have yet to play a Test match at The Oval.

The Oval has an interesting history, during the Second World War, it was intended to be used as a prisoner of war camp, but it never came to that. The Oval has however, hosted matches of the 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999 Cricket World Cup and a few of the ICC Champions Trophy matches in 2004. If there was anything missing, The Oval will be one of the many locations in Akshay Kumar’s latest movie ‘The Patiala House’. This will be the first movie shot at The Oval.

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