Albert Cricket Ground
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| Former names | Warehouseman's Cricket Ground |
|---|---|
| Location | St Kilda, Victoria |
| Coordinates | Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. |
| Operator | Melbourne Cricket Club |
| Field size | 145m × 130m |
| Surface | Grass |
| Tenants | |
| Melbourne Cricket Club Lawn Tennis Association of Victoria (until the 1920s) Melbourne Stars (WBBL) |
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Albert Cricket Ground, also known as the Albert Reserve and previously as the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground, is a cricket ground in St Kilda, Victoria. It is operated by the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC), and used as its primary home ground in the Victorian Premier Cricket competition.
Contents
Cricket
The Melbourne Cricket Club has held the lease for the Warehouseman's Ground since 1890. It has been the primary home venue for its cricket team in the Victorian District/Premier Cricket competition since that time.[1] The venue is the primary finals venue in the premier cricket competition, and has hosted the first XI district/premier cricket final almost every year since 1953/54.[2]
The venue has never hosted a first-class cricket match; in 2003, it was to have hosted its first List A match, a tour match between Australia A and South Africa A,[3] but the match was abandoned without a ball being bowled due to rain.[4]
Top level women's cricket has been played on the ground.[5] One women's Test match was played at the ground between Australia and New Zealand in January 1979,[6] and the Rose Bowl series of Women's One Day International matches in 1988–89,[7] 1990–91,[8] and on three occasions in 1999–2000.[9][10][11][12][13]
The venue has one pavilion, the Clive Fairbairn Pavilion, named after MCC player, administrator and life member Clive Fairbairn.[14]
Tennis
In 1905 the Warehouseman's Cricket Ground hosted the first edition of the Australasian Championships, the tournament which later became the Australian Open; lawn tennis at that time was administered in Victoria by the Melbourne Cricket Club. Rodney Heath defeated fellow Australian Arthur Curtis in four sets to claim the inaugural title. The venue hosted the Australasian Championships under the auspices of the MCC and later the Lawn Tennis Association of Victoria a total of four times: in 1905, 1911,[15] 1914[16] and 1924[17] – as well as the 1908 and 1912 Davis Cup finals,[2] before Kooyong became the primary venue for lawn tennis in Melbourne.
A set of public tennis courts remains available at Albert Reserve to the north of the cricket ground.
Other sports
The Melbourne Cricket Club lacrosse team has its training and playing base at the Albert Cricket Ground;[18] the club's baseball team also used the venue until 1976.[1]
Football has been played on the ground in the past. The original Prahran Football Club, which played senior football in the Victorian Football Association in 1886 and 1887 before amalgamating with St Kilda, played its home matches at the ground in 1886; and the Melbourne Football Club (which was a part of the MCC) played some games there after 1890. The ground is not used for football today.[1]
Notes
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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