Centurion Park 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 (small sticks) balanced on three stumps. Two players from the ...

Centurion In the Roman army during classical antiquity, a centurion (; , . ; , or ), was a commander, nominally of a century (), a military unit originally consisting of 100 legionaries. The size of the century changed over time; from the 1st century BC ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

. It is also known as SuperSport Park since television company SuperSport bought shares in the stadium. The capacity of the ground is 22,000. The

Titans cricket team The Titans (known as the Multiply Titans for sponsorship reasons) are the northernmost top-level cricket franchise in South Africa. Its member unions are the Eastern Cricket Union and Northerns Cricket Union. The home venues of the Titans are Su ...

have played most of their home games here since 2004. The ground was home to the Titans' predecessor team Northerns (previously ''Northern Transvaal'') since 1986. It is also the home ground of the Pretoria Capitals.

Name

The town of ''Verwoerdburg'' was renamed ''Centurion'' at the end of

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

, with the politically neutral new name of the town coming from that of the cricket ground.

Notable fixtures

Test matches

The first Test match at Centurion was held in November 1995, as the opening match of the first post-apartheid tour of South Africa by the

England cricket team The England men's cricket team represents cricket in England, England and cricket in Wales, Wales in international cricket. Since 1997, it has been governed by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB), having been previously governed by Maryleb ...

; however, the match was drawn after being severely affected by rain. Centurion was the venue for the notorious fifth Test match of the next England tour in 2000, when (after three days' play were lost to rain) South African captain Hansie Cronje forfeited his team's second innings to allow for a result on the final day of the match, which England won. It was later revealed that Cronje had done so after being approached by a

bookmaker A bookmaker, bookie, or turf accountant is an organization or a person that accepts and pays out bets on sporting and other events at agreed-upon odds In probability theory, odds provide a measure of the probability of a particular outco ...

and offered money to stop the match ending in a draw. Further controversy occurred in 2001, when the scheduled third Test between South Africa and India at Centurion was declared to be an "unofficial" Test after the

Board of Control for Cricket in India The Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is the principal national governing body of the sport of cricket in India. Its headquarters are situated at the Cricket Centre in Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai. BCCI is the wealthiest governing body ...

refused to accept the

International Cricket Council The International Cricket Council (ICC) is the global Sports governing body, governing body of cricket. It was founded as the Imperial Cricket Conference in 1909 by representatives from Australia, England, and South Africa. In 1965, the body wa ...

's match referee,

Mike Denness Michael Henry Denness (1 December 1940 – 19 April 2013) was a Scottish cricketer who played for England national cricket team, England, Scotland national cricket team, Scotland, Kent County Cricket Club, Kent and Essex County Cricket Club, Es ...

, who had disciplined several Indian players in the previous match at Port Elizabeth. In December 2010, India batsman

Sachin Tendulkar Sachin Ramesh Tendulkar (; ; born 24 April 1973) is an Indian former international cricketer who List of India national cricket captains#Men's cricket, captained the Indian national team. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest cricketer ...

scored his 50th Test century at Centurion in the first Test of the 2010–11 Indian tour of South Africa. From the summer of 2018/19, the ground usually hosts a Boxing Day Test.

One-Day Internationals

Centurion was a venue for the

2003 Cricket World Cup The 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup was the eighth Cricket World Cup, organised by the International Cricket Council (ICC). It was co-hosted by South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya from 9 February to 23 March 2003. This edition of the World Cup was the ...

which took place in South Africa. It was also selected as a venue for the

2009 ICC Champions Trophy The 2009 ICC Champions Trophy was a One Day International cricket tournament held in South Africa between 22 September and 5 October, at Wanderers Stadium and Centurion Park, both in the Gauteng province. Originally, the tournament was schedu ...

and hosted the final on 5 October 2009.

SA20

Centurion is the home ground of the Pretoria Capitals, who play in the

SA20 The SA20, also known as the Betway SA20 for sponsorship reasons, is a Twenty20 franchise cricket tournament in South Africa, organised by Cricket South Africa (CSA) and first contested during the 2023 season. It is contested by six teams ba ...

Other cricket competitions

The

2009 Indian Premier League The 2009 Indian Premier League season, abbreviated as IPL 2 or the 2009 IPL, was the second season of the Indian Premier League, established by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) in 2007. The tournament was hosted by South Africa a ...

was held in South Africa, and Centurion was one of eight grounds used. It hosted twelve matches, including one of the semi-finals. Supersport Park also hosted a domestic and continental Sixes tournament, where home side, the

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( ; ) were the pre-Twelve Olympians, Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). The six male ...

, came out on top in the domestic competition, and

winning the continental competition against

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

in the final.

Other sports

Centurion hosted an

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

practice match in 2008 between Carlton and

Fremantle Fremantle () () is a port city in Western Australia located at the mouth of the Swan River (Western Australia), Swan River in the metropolitan area of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth. The Western Australi ...

Music

On 17 September 2011, Irish vocal pop band

Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

held a concert for Gravity Tour supporting their album

Gravity In physics, gravity (), also known as gravitation or a gravitational interaction, is a fundamental interaction, a mutual attraction between all massive particles. On Earth, gravity takes a slightly different meaning: the observed force b ...

Records

Cricket records

Test records

* Highest Test Total: 621 –

vs.

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

, 26 December 2020 * Highest Individual Test Score: 208 –

Hashim Amla Hashim Mahomed Amla OIS (born 31 March 1983) is a South African former international cricketer who captained the national side in Tests and ODIs. Amla holds the record for being the fastest ever to score 3,000, 4,000, and 7,000 ODI runs, joint ...

vs.

West Indies The West Indies is an island subregion of the Americas, surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, which comprises 13 independent island country, island countries and 19 dependent territory, dependencies in thr ...

, 17 December 2014 * Best Test Innings Bowling Figures: 7/29 – Kyle Abbott,

vs.

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, 22 February 2013 * Best Test Match Bowling Figures: 13/144 –

Kagiso Rabada Kagiso Rabada (born 25 May 1995) is a South African international cricketer who plays all formats of the game. He is a right arm fast bowler. He made his international debut in November 2014 in limited-overs cricket before going on to make his ...

vs.

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, 22 January 2016

References

External links

*{{cricinfo, ref=southafrica/content/ground/59079.html, check-wikidata=no Cricket grounds in South Africa Australian rules football grounds Sports venues in Pretoria Test cricket grounds in South Africa