Mangaung Oval is a cricket oval in

Bloemfontein Bloemfontein ( ; ), also known as Bloem, is the capital and the largest city of the Free State (province), Free State province in South Africa. It is often, and has been traditionally, referred to as the country's "judicial capital", alongsi ...

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 ...

, mostly used 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 ...

matches. Previous names for the ground include Springbok Park, Chevrolet Park, Goodyear Park, and OUTsurance Oval. It is the home of the

Knights cricket team The ITEC Knights are a Division 2 cricket team representing the province of Free State in South African domestic competitions. The Knights take part in the CSA 4-Day Series first-class competition, the Momentum One-Day Cup and the Mzansi S ...

. The stadium holds 20,000 people and opened in 1989.

History

The ground hosted its first one-day international in December 1992 when

cruised to an eight-wicket victory over

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. In October 1999 it was accorded full Test status with the visit of the Zimbabwe team. Early in 1994 at the ground

Hansie Cronje Wessel Johannes Cronje (25 September 1969 – 1 June 2002) was a South African international cricketer and captain of the South Africa national cricket team in the 1990s. A right-handed all-rounder, as captain Cronje led his team to victory in 2 ...

smashed 251 with 28 fours and six sixes against the touring

Australians Australians, colloquially known as Aussies, are the citizenship, citizens, nationality, nationals and individuals associated with the country of Australia. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or ethno-cultural. For most Aust ...

. The ground played its part in South African Test history when, fittingly,

Allan Donald Allan Anthony Donald (born 20 October 1966) is a South African former cricketer who is also the former bowling coach of Bangladesh national cricket team. Often nicknamed 'White Lightning' due to his quick bowling, he is considered one of the ...

, who as a Free State cricketer played many times at the ground, became the first South African to capture 300 Test wickets during the First Test against

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

in November 2000. In March 2003

Feiko Kloppenburg Jan Feiko Kloppenburg (born 19 June 1974) is a Dutch former international cricketer. Born in Haarlem, North Holland, Kloppenburg played six One Day Internationals for the Netherlands from September 2002 to March 2003. Domestic career Kloppenbur ...

and

Klaas-Jan van Noortwijk Klaas-Jan Jeroen van Noortwijk (born 10 July 1970) is a Dutch former cricketer. Having played as a right-handed batsman and a right-arm medium-pace bowler, he now teaches at a Dutch high school. Domestic career He started playing cricket at VOC ...

The Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

scored a century in the same match as Netherlands posted their only win in

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 ...

against

Namibia Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia, is a country on the west coast of Southern Africa. Its borders include the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south; in the no ...

. On 7 March 2007, 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 The Love Tour supporting their album '' The Love Album''. This was the stadium where

Colin Ingram Colin Alexander Ingram (born 3 July 1985) is a South African cricketer who currently plays for Glamorgan. He represented South Africa in One Day (ODI) and Twenty20 Internationals (T20I) between 2010 and 2013, scoring a century on his ODI debut ...

scored his maiden ODI

century A century is a period of 100 years or 10 decades. Centuries are numbered ordinally in English and many other languages. The word ''century'' comes from the Latin ''centum'', meaning ''one hundred''. ''Century'' is sometimes abbreviated as c. ...

in his first international match, the first South African to score a century on his ODI debut. Springbok Park boasts some of the best lights in the country and is regularly used for day/night matches, when the grassy banks become colourfully filled with spectators and a carnival atmosphere prevails. It is just 10 minutes walk from the city centre, with Bloemfontein coach station adjacent to the ground. A

naming rights Naming rights are a financial transaction and form of advertising or memorialization where a corporation, person, or other entity purchases the right to name a facility, object, location, program, or event (most often sports venues), typical ...

arrangement saw the ground renamed Goodyear Park due to sponsorship by the

Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is an American multinational tire manufacturer headquartered in Akron, Ohio. Goodyear manufactures tires for passenger vehicles, aviation, commercial trucks, military and police vehicles, motorcycles, recreati ...

until the 2007/08 season when it was renamed the OUTsurance Oval. It has since been renamed again as Mangaung Oval.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official ground page

Cricket grounds in South Africa Buildings and structures in Bloemfontein Multi-purpose stadiums in South Africa Sports venues in the Free State (province)

History

See also

References

External links