Osborne Avenue
Encyclopedia
Osborne Avenue is a cricket
Cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 ground in Jesmond
Jesmond
Jesmond is a residential suburb and is split into two electoral wards just north of the centre of Newcastle upon Tyne, England. The population is about 12,000. It is adjacent to, and to the east of, the Town Moor, providing pedestrian and cycle paths to Spital Tongues and the city's two Universities...

, Northumberland
Northumberland
Northumberland is the northernmost ceremonial county and a unitary district in North East England. For Eurostat purposes Northumberland is a NUTS 3 region and is one of three boroughs or unitary districts that comprise the "Northumberland and Tyne and Wear" NUTS 2 region...

. It was originally known as the Constabulary Ground. The first cricket match was played there in 1887, though the first recorded match was in 1894, when Northumberland
Northumberland County Cricket Club
Northumberland County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Northumberland and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...

 played a minor match against FGH Clayton's XI.

In 1897, the ground hosted its first Minor Counties Championship match when Northumberland played Durham
Durham County Cricket Club
Durham County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh national cricket structure, representing the historic county of Durham. Its limited overs team is called the Durham Dynamos. Their kit colours are blue with yellow trim and the shirt sponsor was...

. From 1897 to the present day, Osborne Avenue has hosted 457 Minor Counties Championship and 24 MCCA Knockout Trophy
MCCA Knockout Trophy
The Minor Counties Cricket Association Knockout Cup was started in 1983 as a knockout one-day competition for the Minor Counties in English cricket...

 matches. Two first-class
First-class cricket
First-class cricket is a class of cricket that consists of matches of three or more days' scheduled duration, that are between two sides of eleven players and are officially adjudged first-class by virtue of the standard of the competing teams...

 matches have been played on Osborne Avenue, the first of which came in 1965 when a combined Minor Counties team played the touring South Africans, a match which the South Africans won by 243 runs. The second of these saw the Minor Counties play the touring Pakistanis in 1974, a match which the Pakistanis won by 5 wickets. The first List A match played there came in the 1971 Gillette Cup
1971 Gillette Cup
The 1971 Gillette Cup was the ninth Gillette Cup, an English limited overs county cricket tournament. It was held between 15 May and 4 September 1971...

 between Northumberland and Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire County Cricket Club
Lincolnshire County Cricket Club is one of the county clubs, which make up the Minor Counties in the English domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Lincolnshire and playing in the Minor Counties Championship and the MCCA Knockout Trophy...

. From 1971 to 2005, the ground played host to twenty List A matches, the last of which saw Northumberland play Middlesex
Middlesex County Cricket Club
Middlesex County Cricket Club is one of the 18 major county clubs which make up the English and Welsh domestic cricket structure, representing the historic county of Middlesex. It was announced in February 2009 that Middlesex changed their limited overs name from the Middlesex Crusaders, to the...

 in the 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy
The 2005 Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy was the 4th Cheltenham & Gloucester Trophy, an English county cricket tournament, held between 3 May and 3 September 2005. The competition was contested by all 18 first-class counties, as well as 10 minor counties and the national teams of Scotland, Ireland,...

. In addition to Northumberland, the ground also served as a home venue for Minor Counties East and Minor Counties North in the Benson and Hedges Cup one-day competition.

Northumberland County Cricket Club encountered financial difficulties in 2004, leaving them with the possibility of having to move from the ground, which is owned by a group of trustees. £30,000 was required to save the ground, with the savingcricket@jesmond campaign set up to promote the campaign to save the ground. The campaign was a success and Osborne Avenue was saved from closure in 2006 following a two year campaign, which ended with Newcastle Royal Grammar School
Royal Grammar School, Newcastle
Royal Grammar School Newcastle upon Tyne, known locally and often abbreviated as RGS, is a long-established co-educational, independent school in Newcastle upon Tyne, England. It gained its Royal Charter under Queen Elizabeth I...

 taking over the lease of the ground. The campaign was supported by Newcastle City Council
Newcastle City Council
Newcastle City Council is the local government authority for Newcastle upon Tyne, a city in Tyne and Wear, England. The council consists of 78 councillors, three for each of the city's 26 wards...

, sporting icon Sir Bobby Robson, as well as figures from the cricketing world such as England and Durham bowler Steve Harmison
Steve Harmison
Stephen James Harmison MBE is an English cricketer. Primarily a fast bowler, he represented England in 63 Tests, 58 ODI's, and 2 T20's. He also plays county cricket for Durham....

, who acted as the campaigns patron. Other notable players lent their support to the campaign, including Australian Dennis Lillee
Dennis Lillee
Dennis Keith Lillee, AM, MBE is a former Australian cricketer rated as the "outstanding fast bowler of his generation"...

 who wrote: “Most cricket grounds are forgettable. However, in my opinion, Jesmond should live forever. It should be a monument to what cricket is and should never lose”. Former England captain Mike Brearley
Mike Brearley
John Michael Brearley OBE is a former cricketer who captained the England cricket team in 31 of his 39 Test matches, winning 17 and losing only 4. He was the President of the Marylebone Cricket Club in 2007–08.-Early life:...

 and former England women's player Dorothy Macfarlane
Dorothy Macfarlane
Dorothy Macfarlane was an English cricketer who played seven Women's Test matches for the England Women's team between 1957/58 and 1963.-References:...

 also gave their support to the campaign. Following the successful campaign the grounds remains in use by Newcastle Cricket Club, and though Northumberland County Cricket Club gave up their lease of the ground, they continue to use the ground as a base and play some home matches there.

External links

  • Osborne Avenue at ESPNcricinfo
  • Osborne Avenue at CricketArchive
    CricketArchive
    CricketArchive is a website that aims to provide a comprehensive archive of records relating to the sport of cricket. It claims to be the most comprehensive cricket database on the internet, including scorecards for all matches of first-class cricket , List A cricket , Women's Test cricket and...

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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