The Edgbaston Cricket Ground, popularly known as the County Ground is located at Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It is used by the Warwickshire County Cricket Club for their home matches.
With permanent seating for approximately 25,000 spectators, Edgbaston is the fourth-largest cricketing venue in the United Kingdom.
History
Calthorpe Estates, the owner of the land that presently makes up the stadium believed that a cricket ground would be an asset to the populous part of the country that was Birmingham.
Warwickshire County Cricket Club agreed in 1885 to lease the land for £5 per acre over a 21-year period. The site was drained, enclosed and wooden stands were constructed.
The new ground's first match took place on 7 June 1886 against the Marylebone Cricket Club, and was watched by 3,000 spectators over two days. 6,000 people turned up on 9 and 10 August to watch Warwickshire play Australia.
The first Test at Edgbaston was the first match of The Ashes series in 1902, for which the club erected a permanent stand and two temporary stands. The first ODI was played on August 28, 1972 when the hosts England, beat their arch rivals Australia with 2 wickets in hand.
Major Matches
In July 1997, Edgbaston was the scene of the first competitive floodlit day-night cricket match in Britain.
Edgbaston was also the first English grounds outside Lord's to host a major international one-day tournament final when it hosted the ICC Champions Trophy final in 2013. India emerged victorious in the finals by beating the hosts, England.
After the redevelopment of the ground in 2011, England played India in a test match on August 10. England scored a massive victory and reached the number one rankings in test cricket for the first time.
It was the venue of the first senior game under floodlights in English cricket and has hosted the first day/night Test match in England in August 2017 when England played the West Indies.
Controversies
In 2009, Edgbaston's future as a Test venue was in doubt after Warwickshire's plans to develop the ground were deferred by Birmingham city council's planning committee. After much controversy and debate, the redevelopment plans were agreed to by the city council.
That year turned out to be very controversial for his cricketing arena. Heavy rains caused a lot of damage to the pitch. It was one of the several occasions where the groundsmen have had to race against time to make the pitch playable after heavy rains.
Recent Matches
Edgbaston hosted the first day/night test match in England, between England and West Indies which started on August 17. It also marked the debut for the pink ball. England beat the West Indies by an innings and 209 runs within 3 days.
The record attendance at the stadium for an ODI was raised thrice during the 2017 Champions Trophy as the Pakistan vs India group match attracted 24,156 and England vs Australia 24,227, before the India v Bangladesh semi-final attracted 24,340, which was also the highest attendance for any match in the tournament, including the final.
