The Sports Ground, Woodbridge Road is a

cricket ground 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 striki ...

in Guildford, Surrey. The ground was given to the town in trust in 1911 by Sir Harry Waechter, Bart. Guildford Cricket Club play their home matches on the ground. Surrey County Cricket Club usually play at least one

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 ...

match there each season, as well as some second XI and Surrey Stars fixtures. Until comparatively recently,

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

was played on the ground in winter. The ground was also used for football until at least 1921. It was the home ground of the amateur team Guildford F.C. who existed until 1953 (not to be confused with the

professional A professional is a member of a profession or any person who works in a specified professional activity. The term also describes the standards of education and training that prepare members of the profession with the particular knowledge and ski ...

Guildford City Guildford City Football Club (formerly Guildford United and AFC Guildford) is a football club based in Guildford, Surrey, England. The club was established in 1921, folded in 1974 and was reformed in 1996. Guildford City play in the . Histo ...

team who played at Josephs Road) and was also used as the venue for some Surrey Senior Cup finals. The ground capacity is 4,500. The two ends of the ground are known as the Pavilion End and the Railway End.

History

The

2nd Royal Surrey Militia The 2nd Royal Surrey Militia, later the 3rd Battalion, Queen's (Royal West Surrey Regiment) was an auxiliary regiment raised in Surrey in the Home counties of England. From its formal creation in 1797 the regiment served in home defence in all of ...

used the 'Woodbridge Road cricket ground' for its annual drill from 1853 until the 1860s, and particularly during the

Crimean War The Crimean War, , was fought from October 1853 to February 1856 between Russia and an ultimately victorious alliance of the Ottoman Empire, France, the United Kingdom and Piedmont-Sardinia. Geopolitical causes of the war included the ...

when the regiment was embodied for full time service but was quarantined at Guildford due to an outbreak of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...

. Surrey first used the ground in 1938, against

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

from 13 to 15 July, winning by an innings. They have played there in most seasons since. In 1957, as part of a visit to Guildford to mark the 700th anniversary of the granting of a

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but s ...

to the town by Henry III,

the Queen In the English-speaking world, The Queen most commonly refers to: * Elizabeth II (1926–2022), Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 1952 until her death The Queen may also refer to: * Camilla, Queen Consort (born 1947), ...

and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the ground during a county fixture, and the two teams (Surrey and Hampshire) were presented to them. The ground is on the small side, so that some high scores have been made there. The highest individual innings played on the ground in first-class matches is

Justin Langer Justin Lee Langer (21 November 1970) is an Australian cricket coach and former cricketer. He is the former coach of the Australia men's national team, having been appointed to the role in May 2018 and leaving in February 2022. A left-handed ba ...

's 342 for

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

in 2006. Somerset made 688-8 declared in their first innings in this match, but Surrey responded with 717 - the highest total made on the ground - and the match was drawn. The most notable bowling feat is

Martin Bicknell Martin Paul Bicknell (born 14 January 1969) is a former English cricketer. He played in four Test matches, with the last two, against South Africa in 2003, coming ten years after the first two in the 1993 Ashes series. England had played 114 ...

's against Leicestershire in 2000. He had match figures of 16-119, the second best match figures ever returned for Surrey. His figures in the second innings were 9-47. The highest individual innings in a List A one-day match on the ground is 203 by

Alastair Brown Alistair Duncan Brown (born 11 February 1970), commonly known as Ali Brown, is a former English cricketer who played for Surrey County Cricket Club, before moving to Nottinghamshire for the 2009 season. He was nicknamed "Lordy", in allusion t ...

in a 40 overs a side AXA Life League match against Hampshire in 1997. This remains the highest score in any 40 overs List A match played in England. The

English women's cricket team The England women's cricket team represents England and Wales in international women's cricket. Since 1998, they have been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by the Women's Cricket Associatio ...

have played two Test Matches on the ground, against New Zealand in 1996 and against Australia in 1998. The former Woodbridge Road groundsman, Bill Clutterbuck, won the Ransomes Jacobsen Trophy for Achievements in Cricket Groundsmanship at the ECB's annual pre-season dinner for First Class Groundsmen for 2006. Surrey currently play at least one first-class match at Woodbridge Road each season as part of a festival. In 2018 a new pavilion was opened offering much improved facilities, as well as being an events and private hire venue. In 2019, Surrey CCC took over ground maintenance. In 2019, the ground hosted two championship games versus Somerset and Yorkshire and four Surrey Stars matches in the

Women's Cricket Super League The Women's Cricket Super League (WCSL), known as the Kia Super League (KSL) for sponsorship reasons, was a semi-professional women's Twenty20 cricket competition in England and Wales operated by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB). The comp ...

season.

References

External links

Cricinfo article about the groundGuildford Cricket Club and ground information
{{Guildford Cricket grounds in Surrey Sports venues in Guildford Surrey County Cricket Club grounds Sports venues completed in 1911 1911 establishments in England

History

See also

References

External links