Ek Park is a

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 ...

ground in

Kitwe Kitwe is the third largest city in terms of infrastructure development (after Lusaka and Ndola) and second largest city in terms of size and population (after Lusaka) in Zambia. With a population of 517,543 (''2010 census provisional'') Kitwe is ...

Zambia Zambia (), officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central, Southern and East Africa, although it is typically referred to as being in Southern Africa at its most central point. Its neighbours are ...

. The first recorded match on the ground came in 1957 when Northern Rhodesia played the touring

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizens Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the con ...

. The ground later held its first first-class match in 1962 when

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to th ...

played a touring International XI, resulting in a drawn match. The second first-class match held on the ground came later in 1962 when Rhodesia played the touring Commonwealth XI, with the match again ending in a draw. During this time, what is today Zambia was administered as part of

Northern Rhodesia Northern Rhodesia was a British protectorate in south central Africa, now the independent country of Zambia. It was formed in 1911 by amalgamating the two earlier protectorates of Barotziland-North-Western Rhodesia and North-Eastern Rhodes ...

. These two matches mark the only time first-class cricket has been played anywhere in what is today Zambia. Following independence the ground has been used by the

Zambia national cricket team The Zambia national cricket team is the team that represents the Republic of Zambia in international cricket. It is administered by the Zambia Cricket Union, which became an associate member of the International Cricket Council (ICC) in 2003. ...

, who played

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

opponents in the form of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

, Glamorgan and

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avon an ...

at the ground in the 1970s, though the matches held no official status. Today, the ground is used by Nkana Cricket Cl

References

{{reflist

External links

Ek Park, Kitwe
at CricketArchive Cricket grounds in Zambia Kitwe Buildings and structures in Copperbelt Province Sports venues completed in 1957 1957 establishments in Northern Rhodesia