The AO Shirley Recreation Ground is a multi-use

stadium A stadium ( : stadiums or stadia) is a place or venue for (mostly) outdoor sports, concerts, or other events and consists of a field or stage either partly or completely surrounded by a tiered structure designed to allow spectators to stand o ...

Road Town Road Town, located on Tortola, is the capital of the British Virgin Islands. It is situated on the horseshoe-shaped Road Harbour in the centre of the island's south coast. The population was about 15,000 in 2018. The name is derived from the n ...

British Virgin Islands ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song_type = Territorial song , song = "Oh, Beautiful Virgin Islands" , image_map = File:British Virgin Islands on the globe (Americas centered).svg , map_caption = , mapsize = 290px , image_map2 = Bri ...

. It is currently used mostly for football matches and usually hosts the

British Virgin Islands national football team The British Virgin Islands national football team is the national team of the British Virgin Islands and is controlled by the British Virgin Islands Football Association. It is a member of both CONCACAF and FIFA. History Early football games ...

's games. The stadium holds 1,500 people.

History

The Ground was named in honor of Alexander O. Shirley in June 1990. Shirley, a cricketer who also served as the Accountant General of the British Virgin Islands from 1967 to 1987, had requested land to build the ground from the

Administrator of the British Virgin Islands The Governor of the Virgin Islands is the representative of the British monarch in the United Kingdom's overseas territory of the British Virgin Islands. The governor is appointed by the monarch on the advice of the British government. The r ...

. Shirley remains the only British Virgin Islander to have a ground named for him.

Cricket

The ground has also been used as a venue for

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 ...

matches, with the first recorded cricket match played there in 1988 between a Combined Virgin Islands and

Nevis Nevis is a small island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute one country: the Saint Kitts and Nevis, Federation ...

. Three years later, the

British Virgin Islands cricket team The British Virgin Islands cricket team has represented the British overseas territory of the British Virgin Islands in cricket. The team is not a member of the International Cricket Council, but is a member of the Leeward Islands Cricket Asso ...

first played there against

Anguilla Anguilla ( ) is a British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is one of the most northerly of the Leeward Islands in the Lesser Antilles, lying east of Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and directly north of Saint Martin. The territ ...

in the 1991 Leeward Islands Tournament. Just over a decade later, the Leeward Islands played a first-class match there against the

Windward Islands french: Îles du Vent , image_name = , image_caption = ''Political'' Windward Islands. Clockwise: Dominica, Martinique, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Grenada. , image_alt = , locator_map = , location = Caribbean Sea Nor ...

in the 2001/02 Busta Cup. This is the only first-class match to be played at the ground. The last recorded cricket match played there was in 2005. The grounds end names are the Police Station End and the Super Value End.

References

External links

A. O. Shirley Recreation Ground
at

ESPNcricinfo ESPN cricinfo (formerly known as Cricinfo or CricInfo) is a sports news website exclusively for the game of cricket. The site features news, articles, live coverage of cricket matches (including liveblogs and scorecards), and ''StatsGuru'', a ...

A. O. Shirley Recreation Ground
at CricketArchive Football venues in the British Virgin Islands Cricket grounds in the British Virgin Islands Athletics (track and field) venues in the British Virgin Islands

Road Town {{Caribbean-sports-venue-stub