Old Trafford Cricket Ground

Cricket

Updated On : 07 Feb, 2020

	Location	Manchester, United Kingdom
	Venue Type	Outdoor
	Capacity	Domestic: 19,000; International: 26,000; Concerts: 50,000

Trivia

Old Trafford was used as a transit camp for troops coming from Dunkirk and as a supply depot during the Second World War.

Here we are talking about one of the world's most famous cricket grounds and the second oldest Test venue of England- The Old Trafford, located near the Old Trafford football stadium. It is also known as the Emirates Old Trafford for sponsorship reasons. The site of the ground was used for cricket match for the first time in 1857, and the games there attracted only a little bunch of town crowd as the routes were not as accessible as they are today. The ground was significantly expanded in the next decade.

Significance

In 1940, the ground was attacked by bombs that damaged the major part of the field and destroyed many spectators stands. Despite all this, games were continued to be played there after repairing, and the ground successfully hosted the "The Victory Test" between England and Australia in 1945. A total of 76,463 spectators witnessed the series.
The two ends of the ground are renamed as James Anderson End and the Brian Statham End to honour the former players of Lancashire and England.
The ground witnessed its first one day match on 1st May 1963, the launching day of the Gillette Cup Tournament.
In 1981, during the Ashes series, Ian Botham scored 118 including six-sixes which is the second highest in an Ashes innings in the history and about which Ian said, "one of the three innings I would like to tell my grandchildren about".
The ground has also witnessed Master Blaster Sachin Tendulkar scoring his first Test hundred at the age of 17 and becoming the second youngest centurian.
In 1993, Australian cricketer Shane Warne bowled the famous "The Ball of the Century" to Mike Gatting at the ground.
Old Trafford has one of the largest and finest multi-purpose conference facility known as "The Point" that has around 1,000 seats and was built in £12 million.

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