McLean Park is a sports ground in Napier, New Zealand. The two main sports played at the ground are

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 st ...

and

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

. It is one of the largest cricket grounds in New Zealand. McLean Park is a sports ground of international standards which includes the main outdoor stadium and the indoor Rodney Green Centennial Events Centre. The home teams for this ground are the Hawke's Bay Rugby Union and Central Districts Cricket Association. The two ends of the stadium are named the Centennial Stand End and Embankment End. Its close proximity to the International Date Line makes it the world's easternmost Test match ground.

Ground

McLean Park is on Latham Street in Napier South, about one kilometre south of the Napier CBD. It was initially named 'Sir Donald McLean Park' by an act of Parliament after Sir Douglas McLean (also spelt Maclean) donated ten acres of land as a memorial to his father in 1910. In cricket, the ground is primarily a one-day venue with square dimensions that allow attacking batsman to score freely especially in the opening overs. There are four covered stands and a large grass bank opposite the Centennial Stand. The wicket tends to become slower throughout the day therefore captains prefer to set targets on this pitch. It has held first-class matches since 1952 and ten Tests since 1979. New Zealand's Test record at the ground is seven draws, one win and two losses. It has held at least one one-day international every season since 1990. The ground has a capacity of 19,700.

Usage

Cricket

The ground is used for hosting all formats. The first ODI played here was between New Zealand and Sri Lanka in Rothman's Cup of 1982/83. In this match New Zealand defeated Sri Lanka by 7 wickets.

Rugby Union

McLean Park is the home stadium of the Hawkes Bay Magpies in the Mitre 10 Cup. It has also hosted several New Zealand Maori games in the past. During the

1987 Rugby World Cup The 1987 Rugby World Cup was the first Rugby World Cup. It was co-hosted by New Zealand and Australia – New Zealand hosted 21 matches (17 pool stage matches, two quarter-finals, the third-place play-off and the final) while Australia hosted 11 ...

the stadium played host to the Pool 2 game between Canada and Tonga on 24 May 1987. At the

2011 Rugby World Cup The 2011 Rugby World Cup was the seventh Rugby World Cup, a quadrennial international rugby union competition inaugurated in 1987. The International Rugby Board (IRB) selected New Zealand as the host country in preference to Japan and South ...

, McLean Park was again chosen as a venue and hosted two games in Pool A,

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

vs.

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

on 18 September 2011 and Canada vs.

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the n ...

on 27 September 2011. To date the stadium has only hosted two

All Blacks The New Zealand national rugby union team, commonly known as the All Blacks ( mi, Ōpango), represents New Zealand in men's international rugby union, which is considered the country's national sport. The team won the Rugby World Cup in 1987, ...

tests. The first was played on 7 June 1996, when the All Blacks beat

Western Samoa Samoa, officially the Independent State of Samoa; sm, Sāmoa, and until 1997 known as Western Samoa, is a Polynesian island country consisting of two main islands ( Savai'i and Upolu); two smaller, inhabited islands ( Manono and Apolima); ...

51-10 on the Samoans' tour of New Zealand. This test has the distinction of being the first home test in which the All Blacks played under floodlights. The second test featuring the All Blacks took place on 6 September 2014. This was a round 3 clash in the Rugby Championship between the All Blacks and Argentina. The All Blacks won 28-9. The stadium also serves as an alternative home venue for the Hurricanes franchise in

Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Building on various Southern Hem ...

. A total of 11 Super Rugby matches have been played at McLean Park, the first being on 15 March 1996, when the Hurricanes beat Transvaal by 32-16. In the aftermath of the 2011 Christchurch earthquake, the Crusaders used the stadium as a home ground for two matches against the Chiefs in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

Rugby League

Melbourne Storm

Rugby league Rugby league football, commonly known as just rugby league and sometimes football, footy, rugby or league, is a full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular field measuring 68 metres (75 yards) wide and 112 ...

played an

NRL The National Rugby League (NRL) is an Australasian rugby league club competition which contains clubs from New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, the Australian Capital Territory and New Zealand. The NRL formed in 1998 as a joint partnership ...

game against St. George-Illawarra Dragons at the stadium on 25 July 2015. The ground will host a

New Zealand Warriors The New Zealand Warriors are a professional rugby league football club based in Auckland, New Zealand that competes in the National Rugby League (NRL) premiership and is the League's only team from outside Australia. They were formed in 1995 as ...

home game against the

Brisbane Broncos The Brisbane Broncos Rugby League Football Club Ltd., commonly referred to as the Broncos, is an Australian professional rugby league football club based in Brisbane, Queensland. Founded in April 1987, the Broncos play in Australia's elite c ...

27 May 2023.

Redevelopments

After redevelopment of the park the Graham Lowe Stand opened on Saturday 1 August 2009 when the Hawke's Bay Magpies opened their Air New Zealand Cup campaign with a win against Auckland. Redevelopments took just one year to complete. The stand was built with the 2011 Rugby World Cup and the

2015 Cricket World Cup The 2015 ICC Cricket World Cup was the 11th Cricket World Cup, a quadrennial One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament contested by men's national teams and organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was jointly hosted by A ...

in prospect; both events included games at the ground. Drainage problems led two ODIs in January 2018 against Pakistan and against England in February 2018 to be moved. McLean Park made its international return with New Zealand playing India in January 2019.

Statistics

Test matches

McLean Park is regarded as one of the most batting friendly wickets in the world. The average runs per wickets is 39.45 which is almost eight runs higher than

Eden Park Eden Park is New Zealand's largest sports stadium, with a capacity of 50,000. Located in central Auckland, New Zealand's largest city, it is three kilometres southwest of the Auckland CBD, CBD, on the boundary between the suburbs of Mount E ...

which, at 31.46 is the second most batting friendly wicket in New Zealand. No pitch throughout the world which has had more than five test matches has a higher runs per wicket. The batting friendly conditions means that it is hard to produce results here and seven of the ten tests played here have been draws with two losses by New Zealand, each featuring characteristic batting collapses. New Zealand won a lone test here against Zimbabwe in 2012. The highest total set by a team here in Test cricket was by the

New Zealand national cricket team The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...

when they scored 619/9 dec on 26 Mar 2009 against the

Indian national cricket team The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a Full Member of the Internationa ...

. The most runs scored in this ground have been by

Brendon McCullum Brendon Barrie McCullum (born 27 September 1981) is a cricket coach, commentator and former cricketer representing New Zealand, who played all formats, including as captain. McCullum was renowned for his quick scoring, notably recording the f ...

(494 runs),

Ross Taylor Luteru Ross Poutoa Lote Taylor (born 8 March 1984) is a former international cricketer and former captain of the New Zealand national team. Batting predominantly at number four, when he announced his retirement from international cricket at ...

-420 runs and

Jesse Ryder Jesse Daniel Ryder (born 6 August 1984) is a former international New Zealand cricketer, who played all forms of the game. He is a middle-order batsman for Tests and is an opening batsman in ODIs. Ryder also bowls useful medium-pace. Ryder has ...

(317 runs). The most wickets have been taken by Chris Martin- 22 wickets, followed by Ian O'Brien-15 wickets and

Jeetan Patel Jeetan Shashi Patel (born 7 May 1980) is a former New Zealand international cricketer. A right arm off spin bowler, he plays for Wellington in New Zealand and Warwickshire in England. He is also the spin bowling coach for the England cricke ...

and

Daniel Vettori Daniel Luca Vettori (born 27 January 1979) is a New Zealand cricket coach and former cricketer who played for the New Zealand national cricket team. He was the 200th player to win their Test cricket cap for New Zealand. Vettori was the younge ...

- 14 wickets.

One Day Internationals

McLean Park also has been known as a good batting strip for one day cricket. The average runs per wicket is 30.66 while the average runs per over is 4.90. It has been known as a good ground for New Zealand with 20 of the 33 matches played having been won by the home side while two matches, both against England, were tied.

Ricky Ponting Ricky Thomas Ponting (born 19 December 1974) is an Australian cricket coach, commentator, and former cricketer. Ponting was captain of the Australian national team during its "golden era", between 2004 and 2011 in Test cricket and 2002 and 20 ...

has the highest individual score on the ground of 141 not out which came in a team score of 347/5. It was selected as a venue for the

and hosted 3 matches. In ODI cricket, the highest total has been set by the

against the

Zimbabwean national cricket team The Zimbabwe national cricket team, also known as the Chevrons, represents Zimbabwe in men's international cricket and is overseen by Zimbabwe Cricket (formerly known as the Zimbabwe Cricket Union). Zimbabwe has been a Full Member of the Intern ...

when they scored 373/8 on 9 Feb 2012. The most runs scored in this ground have been by

- 779 runs, followed by

Nathan Astle Nathan John Astle (born 15 September 1971) is a former New Zealand cricketer, who played all formats of the game. A right-handed batsman who played as an opener in One Day Internationals (ODI), while batting in the middle order in Test matche ...

and Stephen Fleming-(743 runs). The most wickets have been taken by

-30 wickets-ahead of three players with 17.

Twenty20 Internationals

The first T20I at the venue was held on 3 January 2017, between New Zealand and Bangladesh. With that, McLean park became the sixth venue in New Zealand to host a T20 international.

References

External links

Cricinfo LinkGround Statistics
{{A-League stadiums 1911 establishments in New Zealand Test cricket grounds in New Zealand Rugby union stadiums in New Zealand Association football venues in New Zealand Rugby World Cup stadiums Buildings and structures in Napier, New Zealand Sport in Napier, New Zealand Cricket grounds in New Zealand Sports venues in the Hawke's Bay Region 1992 Cricket World Cup stadiums 2015 Cricket World Cup stadiums