Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, which is about 10–20 minutes’ drive from the capital city, St. John's, is situated at the North Sound, Antigua, Antigua and Barbuda. Named after the West Indies legendary batsman, the stadium was built to be used for the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup where it hosted Super Eight matches.
The stadium is actually the replacement of the Antigua Recreation Ground where Sir Viv Richards, scored the fastest Test match century off 56 balls against England in the "Blackwash" series of 1986.
The stadium is huge and has a lot of parking space, which the Antigua Recreation Ground lacked and was one of the main reason that ARG was abandoned.
To meet the maintenance costs, the stadium is rented out for functions, events, and parties, which sometimes are held on the ground too.
History
The stadium was given as a gift by China to the Antiguan Government ahead of the 2007 World Cup. The previous venue, the famous Antigua Recreation Ground where Lara made the record Test score of 400 not out in 2004, is being used for other sports.
This venue at the North Sound locality has many grass banks, something the visiting English fans, The Barmy Army love.
The first ever international match was played against Australia in March 2007 during the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup. Matthew Hayden’s 158 guided the Aussies to a victory against the Windies team.
The first test match was again played against Australia on May 2008 which ended with spoils being shared and Shivnarine Chanderpaul was awarded the Man of the match award.
Ahead of the first Test against England on 13 April 2015, the north and south ends were renamed as, Sir Curtly Ambrose and Sir Andy Roberts honouring the two West Indian Legends.
Major Matches
The Super Eight match between Sri Lanka and England on Apr 4, 2007, was a nail-biter as England lost the match by 2 runs and eventually were later chucked out of the tournament as they fell short by 2 points in the stage.
The first Test match staged on the ground began on 30 May 2008 when West Indies hosted Australia, with the match ending in a draw.
The first T20 match that was hosted here was another slow scoring match on May 19, 2010, when South Africa scored 136 in their allocated overs and won the match by 13 runs.
Controversies
The ground hosted its second Test match against England on 13 February 2009. The match was abandoned after only ten balls due to the outfield's dangerous condition. The ground staff had applied an extra layer of sand after recent flooding, which resulted in the bowlers being unable to gain a foothold when running in.
The abandonment caused great embarrassment for West Indies cricket. The ground was banned by hosting any International matches for the period of twelve months by ICC along with warning them WICB.
Recent Matches
The most recent match hosted here was on 2nd July 2017, an ODI of India’s tour of West Indies in which hosts won the low scoring affair to keep the series alive.
The last test match that was hosted here was against the same opponents but West Indies were outplayed this time as India won the match by an innings and 92 runs in July 2016.
