The War Memorial Athletic Ground, often referred to as simply the War Memorial Ground, is a

sports ground A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field. For most sports t ...

in the Amblecote region of

Stourbridge Stourbridge is a market town in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley in the West Midlands, England, situated on the River Stour. Historically in Worcestershire, it was the centre of British glass making during the Industrial Revolution. The ...

, West Midlands,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It plays host to both

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

and football, being the home of Stourbridge Cricket Club and Stourbridge Football Club.

Cricket

International

Two ICC Trophy matches have been played at the War Memorial Ground:

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = "Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , es ...

Papua New Guinea Papua New Guinea (abbreviated PNG; , ; tpi, Papua Niugini; ho, Papua Niu Gini), officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea ( tpi, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niugini; ho, Independen Stet bilong Papua Niu Gini), is a country i ...

in 1979, and

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

v East Africa in 1986. The ground also hosted a match in the 1997

Triple Crown Tournament The Triple Crown Tournament was a cricket competition staged annually from 1993 to 2001 between the Home Nations; that is to say Ireland, Scotland, Wales and a team representing England. England were not represented by the professional English cr ...

, between an England Cricket Board XI and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

Domestic

Worcestershire County Cricket Club Worcestershire County Cricket Club is one of eighteen first-class county clubs within the domestic cricket structure of England and Wales. It represents the historic county of Worcestershire. Its Vitality Blast T20 team has been rebrande ...

played 61 first-class matches at the ground: 60 between 1905 and 1962, and a further one in 1981. All these games were in the

County Championship The County Championship (referred to as the LV= Insurance County Championship for sponsorship reasons) is the domestic first-class cricket competition in England and Wales and is organised by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). It bec ...

. Only three List A games have been played here, in 1969, 1970 and 1982, again all involving Worcestershire. The county played Second XI cricket at the ground into the early 1990s. On this ground in 1911, Worcestershire lost to

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancash ...

by 372 runs, which as of the beginning of the 2009 season remains the county's largest ever defeat in terms of runs. In 1909

Frank Woolley Frank Edward Woolley (27 May 1887 – 18 October 1978) was an English professional cricketer who played for Kent County Cricket Club between 1906 and 1938 and for the England cricket team. A genuine all-rounder, Woolley was a left-handed batsman ...

and Arthur Fielder shared a partnership of 235 for

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

's 10th wicket, a stand which remains the highest for the 10th wicket in the

as of 2021 and the fourth-highest of all time.

Records

First-class

* Highest team total: 592/9 declared by

v Worcestershire, 1909 * Lowest team total: 43 by Worcestershire v

, 1913 * Highest individual innings: 217 by Frederick Bowley for Worcestershire v Leicestershire, 1905 * Best bowling in an innings: 9-40 by

Reg Perks Reginald Thomas David Perks (4 October 1911 – 22 November 1977) was an English cricketer who played in two Test matches in 1939, and was the mainstay of Worcestershire's bowling for a long period from the middle 1930s until the middle 1950s ...

for Worcestershire v Glamorgan, 1939

List A

* Highest team total: 164/9 (40 overs) by Worcestershire v Leicestershire, 1970Same match. * Lowest team total: 104 (37.5 overs) by Glamorgan v Worcestershire, 1969 * Highest individual innings: 58 by Nigel Briers for Leicestershire v Worcestershire, 1982 * Best bowling in an innings: 4-24 by Bob Carter for Worcestershire v Leicestershire, 1970Same match.

Football

The War Memorial Athletic Ground is also the home of Stourbridge F.C. The ground hosted League One team

Walsall Walsall (, or ; locally ) is a market town and administrative centre in the West Midlands County, England. Historically part of Staffordshire, it is located north-west of Birmingham, east of Wolverhampton and from Lichfield. Walsall is th ...

in the FA Cup 1st round on 7 November 2009. The match finished in a 0–1 loss for Stourbridge. It also hosted a replay between Stourbridge and Plymouth Argyle in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

on 22 November 2011.

Notes

References

Amblecote, Stourbridge
from CricketArchive. (This is the only name CA gives to the ground.) Retrieved 19 December 2006. {{coord, 52, 27, 45.20, N, 2, 09, 04.89, W, type:landmark, display=title Football venues in the West Midlands (county) Welsh Cup final venues Cricket grounds in the West Midlands (county) Sports venues completed in 1905 World War I memorials in England Stourbridge 1905 establishments in England