St George's Oval

St George's Park

Ground information
Location	Port Elizabeth
Capacity	19,000
End names
Duckpond End Centenary Pavilion End
International information
First Test	March 1889: South Africa v England
First ODI	December 1992: South Africa v India
Last ODI	November 2009: South Africa v England
Domestic team information
Warriors (2004 – present)
As of unknown unknown Source: []

St George’s Park Cricket Ground (also known as St George's Park^[1][2][3], Crusaders Ground^[4] or simply Crusaders) is a cricket ground in St George's Park, Port Elizabeth, South Africa. It is the home of the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club, one of the oldest cricket clubs in South Africa, and the Eastern Province Club. It is also one of the venues at which Test matches and One Day Internationals are played in South Africa. It is older than Kingswood College in Grahamstown.

The ground hosted its first Test match in March 1889 when England defeated South Africa by 8 wickets.^[1] This was South Africa’s first ever Test match. As of 2005^[update], there have been 21 Test matches played at the ground of which South Africa has won 8 and their opponents 9 with 4 draws.

The first One Day International played at the ground was in December 1992 when South Africa beat India by 6 wickets. As of 2005^[update], there have been 25 One Day Internationals played at the ground including 5 in the Cricket World Cup in 2003.

Official name

The ground's official name is "Axxess DSL St Georges" acknowledging a commercial sponsorship arrangement.^[5] However South African and other cricket fans continue to call the ground by its historic name, just "St George’s Park". It's nickname is "The Dragon's Lair" based on the famous legend of St George.

2003 Cricket World Cup

St George's Park was one of 15 venues in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya selected to host matches during the world cup. It hosted 5 matches during the tournament, including 3 group games, 1 super six game and a semi-final.

2009 Indian Premier League

When the 2009 IPL was moved to South Africa, St George's Park was chosen as one of 8 venues in South Africa to host matches. The ground hosted a total of 7 matches, all of them were group games.

Warriors Cricket

The stadium is one of the Warriors 2 home grounds, the other being East London's Buffulo Park. The stadium hosts Warriors home games in the Supersport Series, MTN Domestic Championship and Pro 20 Series.

See also

• List of Test cricket grounds

References

1. ^ ^{a b} "St George's Park (Sahara Oval, St Georges)". Yahoo. http://cricket.yahoo.com/ground-profile/St%20George%27s%20Park,%20Port%20Elizabeth_150. Retrieved 9 January 2010. 
2. ^ "Simon puts Eng on top". The Daily Star (Bangladesh). 2004-12-21. http://www.thedailystar.net/2004/12/21/d41221040338.htm. Retrieved 9 January 2010. 
3. ^ "St George's Park, Port Elizabeth". Sport GetAways. http://www.sportinggetaways.co.uk/event/england_v_south_africa/1/stgeorges.html. Retrieved 9 January 2010. ^{[dead link]}
4. ^ Highams, E. E.. Across a continent in a man-of-war : being the log of commission of H.M.S. "Pelorus", 1906-1909 : with a full account of her cruise of 2,000 miles up the Amazon. London: Westminster Press. pp. 79. http://www.archive.org/stream/acrosscontinenti00highrich#page/78/mode/2up. Retrieved 2010-01-09. 
5. ^ "St George's Park undergoes name change". ESPN Cricket info. 2009-09-11. http://www.cricinfo.com/southafrica/content/story/424500.html. Retrieved 9 January 2010. 

External links

• Cricinfo ground profile
• St George's Park history website

Coordinates: 33°57′59.35″S 25°36′35.99″E / 33.9664861°S 25.6099972°E / -33.9664861; 25.6099972