- The Circle (Cricket Ground)
The Circle, on Anlaby Road in Hull, hosted 89 first class cricket matches from 1899 to 1974. [cite web
url = http://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/11/540_f.html
title = First-Class Matches played on The Circle, Hull (89)
accessdate = 2008-02-11
work = Cricket Archive] Two other matches were rained off without a ball being bowled. Most of the matches wereCounty Championship games featuringYorkshire County Cricket Club but matches against touring teams from India, Australia, South Africa and university games were also played there. 19 list A one day games were also played at the venue from 1969 to 1970.Three batsmen scored double centuries at the ground,
Maurice Leyland scoring 263 for Yorkshire againstEssex CCC in 1936,Herbert Sutcliffe posting an unbeaten 234 againstLeicestershire CCC in 1939 andBasil D'Oliveira making 227 forWorcestershire CCC against Yorkshire in 1974 whilePercy Holmes fell for 199 againstSomerset CCC in 1923. Barry Richards scored 155 not out against Yorkshire in aJohn Player League match in 1970.Johnny Wardle took 9 for 48 at the Circle against Sussex in 1954 while 7 bowlers took 8 wickets in an innings, including such Yorkshire greats asWilfred Rhodes (8-23 vHampshire CCC in 1900),George Hirst (8-25 vLeicestershire CCC in 1907),George Macaulay (8-37 vDerbyshire CCC in 1927) andHedley Verity (8-38 v Leicestershire in 1939).Yorkshire twice posted scores of 500 here, 523-3 declared against Leicestershire in 1937 and 500-7 declared against the same opposition two years later. In contrast
Sussex CCC were bowled out for 20 in 1922, Derbyshire for 23 in 1921 and Worcestershire for 25 in 1906.After 1974 following Yorkshire's decision not to play its games there, The Circle remained in use as the home of Hull Cricket Club. By 1986
Hull City Council had taken over responsibility for the Circle and planned a number of improvements to the facilities. But in 1987 the pavilion was declared unsafe and demolished, and subsequent years of vandalism took their toll.The final cricket match was played in September 2000, and The Circle was demolished in 2001 being incorporated into what has now become the
KC Stadium complex. The official postal address of the KC Stadium remains "The Circle" Anlaby Road, Hull.References
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.