United Services Recreation Ground facts for kids
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| Ground information | |||||||
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| Location | Portsmouth, Hampshire | ||||||
| Coordinates | 50°47′45″N 1°05′50″W / 50.7959°N 1.0973°W | ||||||
| Establishment | c. 1852 | ||||||
| Capacity | 8,000 | ||||||
| End names | |||||||
| Railway End Officer's Club End |
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| Team information | |||||||
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| As of 28 December 2011 Source: Ground profile |
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The United Services Recreation Ground is a famous sports field in Portsmouth, England. It's a place where many different sports have been played for a long time. You can find it on Burnaby Road, with a railway line and Gunwharf Quays nearby. The Officer's Club building stands at one end, watching over the games. The King or Queen of England owns this ground.
Many sports have called this place home, including cricket, rugby, football, and hockey. From 1882 to 2000, the Hampshire County Cricket Club played many of their matches here. Today, the United Services Portsmouth Cricket Club still plays on the ground. The United Services Portsmouth Rugby Football Club has played rugby here since 1882. Even the Royal Navy Rugby Union uses it for their home games. The two ends of the ground are known as the Railway End and the Officer's Club End.
Contents
History of the United Services Recreation Ground
How the Ground Started
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Long ago, in the 1600s, the area where the ground now sits was actually a sea inlet. People built a dam there. This dam let sea water in at high tide. When the tide went out, the dam closed, and the water flowed under a watermill. This mill, called King's Mill, helped make grain. Over time, people filled in the land, taking it back from the sea.
Cricket has been played at the United Services Recreation Ground since at least 1852. The ground became what it is today after old defense walls in the city were taken down in the 1870s. The first big cricket match, called a first-class game, happened here in August 1882. The Australian team played against a team from Cambridge University. Cambridge won that exciting game.
A week later, Hampshire played their first match here against Sussex. Hampshire lost that game. For a while, Hampshire lost its top-level cricket status. But they still played some matches at the ground. In 1893, the Australians made a huge score of 843 runs in a match here, which was a record at the time!
An amateur football team, Royal Artillery (Portsmouth) F.C., also played here from 1894 to 1899. The team eventually broke up, which led to the creation of the professional Portsmouth F.C. team we know today.
Hampshire Cricket's Home Ground
Hampshire became a top-level cricket team again in 1895. They started playing two to three first-class matches at the ground each season. In 1897, Arthur Webb scored Hampshire's first-ever century (100 runs) at the ground. A match against Surrey the next year drew a crowd of about 5,000 people. Sometimes, players from the navy would join the Hampshire team.
The early 1900s were tough for Hampshire at this ground. They didn't win many games. But in 1907, they finally won a match thanks to Phil Mead's great batting and bowling. This pattern of playing a few matches each season continued until World War I.
After the war, Hampshire continued to play many matches here. In 1920, Alex Bowell and George Brown made a record-breaking opening partnership of 204 runs. With strong players like Alec Kennedy and Jack Newman, Hampshire had a very successful year in 1921, winning all three matches at the ground. The Royal Navy Cricket Club also played their first big match here in 1927. Stuart Boyes took the first "hat trick" (three wickets in three balls) at the ground in 1925.
Hampshire kept playing at the ground through the 1930s. In 1937, Gerry Hill and Donald Walker set a record for the fifth-wicket partnership, scoring 235 runs together. This record still stands today! World War II stopped county cricket for a few years. Portsmouth was heavily bombed during the war.
Cricket After World War II
First-class cricket returned to the ground after the war. In 1948, a record 10,000 fans watched Hampshire play Sussex. Hampshire continued to play about four matches here each season in the 1950s. This was a strong period for Hampshire cricket. With great players like Roy Marshall, Jimmy Gray, and Derek Shackleton, Hampshire won the County Championship for the first time in 1961. They won four of their five matches at this ground that season.
A new type of cricket, called List A cricket, started in 1963. The ground hosted its first List A match in 1965. As List A cricket grew, the number of first-class matches at the ground slowly decreased. In 1969, 8,000 people watched Hampshire play Essex in a close league match.
In 1971, a match between Hampshire and the touring Pakistan team saw protests by people from Bangladesh. Hampshire won the County Championship again in 1973. By the end of the 1970s, the ground hosted fewer first-class matches. There were also some problems, like trees blocking the view of passing trains. This meant Hampshire didn't play in Portsmouth in 1975. But new screens were bought, and cricket returned in 1976. That year, a match was even played on a different part of the pitch after vandals damaged it overnight!
Later Years and the End of County Cricket
Over the years, the number of Hampshire matches played at the ground continued to decrease. By 1980, only two first-class matches were held each season. Hampshire won a league title in 1986, with one of their wins happening here. People started wondering if county cricket would continue at the ground for much longer.
However, county cricket did continue into the 1990s. In 1990, Hampshire had two amazing matches against Derbyshire. In one game, Hampshire bowled Derbyshire out for just 61 runs, which is still one of Hampshire's lowest scores against an opponent. In another match, Malcolm Marshall took 7 wickets in just 51 balls to help Hampshire win. The local newspapers called it Marshall's "finest hour."
Hampshire used the ground for most of the 1990s. In 1993, a match against Sussex had a huge total of 1,457 runs scored by both teams. The next year, Hampshire scored 512 runs against Durham, one of their highest scores at the ground.
In 1999, Hampshire didn't play at the ground because of concerns about the pitch quality. They didn't want to lose points from the cricket board. This was only the second time since 1895 that county cricket wasn't played in Portsmouth. Hampshire returned in 2000 for two final first-class matches. In the last first-class game, Rahul Dravid scored the final century at the ground. Hampshire lost that match. Their very last game there was a List A match against Middlesex, which Hampshire also lost.
With ongoing pitch issues and Hampshire moving their main games to the new Rose Bowl ground, these matches were the last for Hampshire at the United Services Recreation Ground. Hampshire played 314 first-class matches here, winning 104 of them. This was a good winning record compared to their other home grounds at the time. They also played 54 List A matches here.
Cricket Records at the Ground
Here are some of the most impressive cricket records made at the United Services Recreation Ground:
First-class Matches
- Highest team score: 843 runs by the Australians against Oxford and Cambridge Universities Past and Present in 1893.
- Lowest team score: 35 runs by Hampshire against Middlesex in 1922.
- Most runs by one player in an innings: 302 runs (not out) by Percy Holmes for Yorkshire against Hampshire in 1920.
- Best bowling in one innings: 9 wickets for 30 runs by Derek Shackleton for Hampshire against Warwickshire in 1960.
- Best bowling in a whole match: 13 wickets for 86 runs by Malcolm Heath for Hampshire against Sussex in 1958.
List A Matches
- Highest team score: 313 runs for 2 wickets (in 50 overs) by Hampshire against Sussex in 1993.
- Lowest team score: 61 runs (in 19.1 overs) by Derbyshire against Hampshire in 1990.
- Most runs by one player in an innings: 166 runs (not out) by Trevor Jesty for Hampshire against Surrey in 1983.
- Best bowling in one innings: 6 wickets for 22 runs by Raymond Bailey for Northamptonshire against Hampshire in 1972.
See also
- List of Hampshire County Cricket Club grounds
- List of cricket grounds in England and Wales
