Old Deer Park cricket ground is part of the

Old Deer Park Old Deer Park is an area of open space within Richmond, London, Richmond, owned by the Crown Estate, in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, England. It covers of which are leased as sports grounds for sports, particularly rugby, gol ...

Richmond, London Richmond is a town in south-west London,The London Government Act 1963 (c.33) (as amended) categorises the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames as an Outer London borough. Although it is on both sides of the River Thames, the Boundary Commis ...

. The park has been used as a venue for

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

since the 1860s and is home to Richmond Cricket Club. Old Deer Park has hosted occasional

Middlesex Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...

county matches since the 1990s. In

1867 There were only 354 days this year in the newly purchased territory of Alaska. When the territory transferred from the Russian Empire to the United States, the calendric transition from the Julian to the Gregorian Calendar was made with only 1 ...

, Richmond played a

United South of England Eleven The United South of England Eleven (USEE) was an itinerant cricket team founded in November 1864 by Edgar Willsher, as secretary, and John Lillywhite, as treasurer. The USEE had no home venue as its prime purpose, like all similarly named teams ...

at the ground. The Australian Aboriginal tour in 1868 included a two-day match there against Richmond – a 1988 tour commemorated this with a replay of the fixture. Other overseas teams that played at Old Deer Park included New Zealand in 1927, the South American XI in 1932, and

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

from 1955 to 1959. Despite historically being within

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

, Old Deer Park has played host to

List A List A cricket is a classification of the Limited overs cricket, limited-overs (one-day) form of the sport of cricket, with games lasting up to eight hours. List A cricket includes One Day International (ODI) matches and various domestic competit ...

matches involving Middlesex. The first of these was the visit of

Nottinghamshire Nottinghamshire (; abbreviated ''Notts.'') is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. The county is bordered by South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west. Th ...

in the 2000 Norwich Union National League. In 2001 Middlesex Cricket Board played a home List A match at the ground in the Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy against

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

. From 2000 to 2004 a total of five List A matches were played on the ground, the last of which saw Middlesex play

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

in the 2004 Totesport League. Middlesex Women played a List A game against

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

at Old Deer Park in the 2009 Women's County Championship. Previously, Middlesex met Surrey Women in a friendly there in 1999. Middlesex have also played 15 men's Twenty20 matches at Old Deer Park. The first T20 match there was a 2003 Twenty20 Cup fixture against

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. The club used the ground in the Twenty20 Cup/T20 Blast until the 2019 season. The ground has hosted a number of Second XI matches. Surrey Second XI played

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

in the 1923

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

, and since

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

Middlesex Second XI have played some of their matches there. In club cricket, the ground has been the home venue of Richmond Cricket Club since

1864 Events January * January 13 – American songwriter Stephen Foster ("Oh! Susanna", "Old Folks at Home") dies aged 37 in New York City, leaving a scrap of paper reading "Dear friends and gentle hearts". His parlor song "Beautiful Dream ...

. Richmond have competed in the Middlesex County Cricket League since it began in 1972. Australian

Adam Gilchrist Adam Craig Gilchrist (; born 14 November 1971) is an Australian cricket commentator and former international cricketer and List of Australia national cricket captains, captain of the Australia national cricket team. He was an attacking left-h ...

played for Richmond at Old Deer Park in

1989 1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...

before he became an international star. Late in his career, he returned to Old Deer Park as a Middlesex player in the 2010 Twenty20 Cup, in their match against

Glamorgan Glamorgan (), or sometimes Glamorganshire ( or ), was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It is located in the South Wales, south of Wales. Originally an ea ...

. File:Cricket at the Old Deer Park - geograph.org.uk - 2460527.jpg, Match in 2010, with the Great Pagoda and

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

rugby ground File:View from atop the pagoda (14724077709).jpg, The cricket ground and Richmond Lawn Tennis Club in 2014, seen from the Pagoda File:Watching cricket from the Pagoda, Kew Gardens - geograph.org.uk - 6172377.jpg, The cricket ground seen from the Pagoda, in 2019

References

Middlesex County Cricket Club Cricket grounds in Surrey Cricket grounds in London English cricket venues in the 19th century {{London-sports-venue-stub

See also

References