10 players and their enduring connection with famous grounds

Tendulkar’s favorite playing destination was his very own home ground – Wankhede StadiumThe greats do well almost everywhere - that’s why they are greats. But sometimes another level of impressiveness is reserved for a special ground and that venue ends up serving to define a player’s career.Perhaps it was their home anyway, but if it wasn’t, they made sure it was. Their exploits then served to create a crowd affection that cannot simply be won by scoring runs or taking wickets, it’s much more than that.Here are 10 cricketers who have an enduring connection with famous grounds across the world.

#10 Sir Curtly Ambrose - Queen\'s Park Oval

Ambrose celebrates after he takes the wicket at the Queen's Park Oval in Port-of-Spain, Trinidad.

Speedster Sir Curtly Ambrose was a part of the era where the Caribbean could produce devastating fast bowlers on demand and his skills were at their most destructive at the Queen’s Park Oval in Trinidad.

The Antiguan played 12 Tests at the ground and took 66 wickets at 13.28 apiece with six five-wicket hauls and one ten-for – significantly better than his career statistics which were phenomenally impressive in their own right (405 wickets at 20.99).

Even at the age of 36, Ambrose was still making hay in Port of Spain and he played his part in West Indies’ miracle victory over Zimbabwe, where they somehow defended a fourth innings of target of 99, with the right-armer chipping in with 3-8 in a miracle win.

#9 Graham Gooch - Lord\'s

Gooch batting during his historic innings of 333 against India at Lords in 1990

Graham Gooch, England’s timeless batsman, was a lynch pin of their side for two decades, batting so prolifically that he remained the country’s highest run-scorer for another 20 years, before Alastair Cook surpassed him this year.

It was Lord’s that the Essex-born right-hander chose to adopt as his most prominent battering ground, and he smashed the record for the most Test runs made in one match. Goochie plundered 466, thanks to knocks of 333 and 123, as he put India to the sword in the summer of 1990 – a match England would win by 247 runs. His triple-century was the first and so far only in Tests at the Home of Cricket.

He ended his international days with 2,015 five-day runs at Lord’s, which equated to over one-fifth of the total number of runs he scored in his whole Test career. A happy hunting ground, as they say.

#8 MS Dhoni - MA Chidambaram Stadium

Dhoni and MA Chidambaram stadium go parallel in one line

The boy from Ranchi needed a cricketing home since the sport rarely visited his parts and with the birth of the Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2008, Mahendra Singh Dhoni found one – the MA Chidambaram Stadium in Chennai.

As captain of the Chennai Super Kings, Dhoni has led the franchise to two IPL titles, four runners-up awards and in eight seasons they have never failed to reach the playoffs. Add on to that two Champions League trophies as well and you have a stunningly formidable outfit.

The Chidambaram has been the base for all of that success and when factoring in that Dhoni has piloted India to glory in all three formats at international level, it is no surprised that he is adored. It’s not a bad second home really, is it MS?

#7 Michael Clarke - Adelaide Oval

Clarke at the Adelaide Oval during a 2013 Ashes match

As captain of Australia, Michael Clarke is loved pretty much everywhere in Australia. He lifted the World Cup in Melbourne, he hit a triple hundred in Sydney, but it is at the Adelaide Oval where Pup has proven himself to be mind-bogglingly consistent.

In 10 Test matches at the South Australia ground, Clarke has scored 1,414 runs at an average of over 94 with seven hundreds. Heroically, late last year he defied a back injury to make 128 in his first match since the death of teammate Phillip Hughes.

Two other of his finest innings have also come at Adelaide. South Africa were subjected to a brutal 230 from just 257 balls in 2012 while a year earlier Clarke breached 200 again as he and Ricky Ponting pummelled India. Nowhere else has the Aussie captain’s dynasty been more apparent than here.

#6 Jacques Kallis - Newlands

Kallis during the 2011 series against India at the Newlands

Save for Garfield Sobers, Jacques Kallis is arguably the greatest all-rounder cricket has ever seen and Newlands – the Cape Town ground under the gaze of Table Mountain – was where the South African so often came to play, which is fortunate considering he was born there.

In nearly 15 years of playing Test cricket at the venue, Kallis accrued 2,181 runs at over 70 and snared 42 wickets at a smidgen above 30. He made his highest five-day score at the ground in 2012 when he tormented Sri Lanka for what seemed like an eternity, on his way to 224 – a match which his side won by 10 wickets.

India didn’t escape some punishment either. On their tour in 2011 it was the Kallis show once again at Newlands as he hit two tons in the match with 161 and 109 not out. The match meandered to a draw but unsurprisingly, Kallis’ exploits ensured he was player-of-the-match.

#5 Sachin Tendulkar - Wankhede Stadium

Tendulkar’s last career match was played at the Wankhede Stadium

It is of no surprise that the home ground of India’s greatest cricketing son makes the list, and Sachin Tendulkar’s love affair with Mumbai and the Wankhede Stadium – a ground he played at for his state, his country and his Indian Premier League franchise - is one of the most notable in the game.

In 2011, Tendulkar finally became a world champion at the sixth attempt, with the coronation coming at Wankhede. As a billion watched on, the Mumbai kid was paraded around the ground waving an Indian flag in the perfect sporting celebration.

He perhaps fared better elsewhere, recording only two international hundreds in the city during his career – one apiece in Tests and ODIs – but statistics mattered not, this was home. The hastily arranged two-match series with West Indies which allowed Tendulkar to complete hs career at Wankhede, just proves to illustrate the unbreakable bond even further.

#4 Muttiah Muralitharan - Galle

Muralitharan during a match at the Galle stadium

Like Jayawardene, who tops the batting charts for such a statistic, Muttiah Muralitharan has locked out the top three spots the most Test wickets at a single ground – helped partly by the fact that Sri Lanka have so few Test stadiums, but it’s a stunning achievement nonetheless.

While Colombo (SSC) and his home patch, Kandy, were the two venues where he caused batsmen the most trouble, it was Galle which produced the most iconic Murali moment, in his final Test match in July 2010.

His decision to retire after the game’s completion meant that he required eight wickets from his final outing to become the first man to notch up 800 in Tests. Fittingly, the spinner made history in dramatic style, recording Sri Lanka’s final out of the match – the scalp of Pragyan Ojha – at which point he was joyously carried around the outfield by his teammates, to the delight of his adoring fans.

#3 Andrew Flintoff - Edgbaston

Flintoff at the Edgbaston Ground during Ashes 2009

There were few better sights in sport than Andrew Flintoff thrilling a boozed up Birmingham crowd. Whether it was Ashes heroics or striking fear into the hearts of other opposition, the popular all-rounder sure knew how to play up to the Edgbaston theatre, as a showman and a match-winner.

In 2005, his bullying innings and crucial wickets were instrumental in securing England’s famous two-run win in the Ashes at the ground as he followed in the footsteps of his predecessor, Ian Botham.

Then in 2008, he subjected Jacques Kallis to his wrath. A brutal spell of fast bowling left the usually unflustered South African legend completely bemused, to the delight of a baying audience. Eventually, he succumbed and suffered the humiliation of having his off stump uprooted as the full house roared. Flintoff and Edgbaston – it was just the perfect combination.

#2 Mahela Jayawardene - Colombo (SSC)

Jayawardene (C) walks through an 'archway of cricket bats' at the SSC Ground in Colombo

Mahela Jayawardene has not only achieved the remarkable feat of only scoring more Tests run than anyone else on a single ground, but he also holds second place on the list too. While in Galle he has accumulated 2,382 runs, it is his antics at the Sinhalese Sports Club (SSC) in Colombo that are the most eye-popping, where he has churned out 2,921 at an average just shy of 75.

It was at the SSC where he and Kumar Sangakkara toppled the world record for the highest ever partnership – they amassed 624 against South Africa in 2006. Jayawardene made 374 in that innings, the most by a Sri Lankan in Test cricket.

His 11 centuries at the ground is also unmatched, and as he slides away into retirement, the classy right-hander has left a mountain of statistics and memories for the Colombo faithful that will live for years to come.

#1 Brian Lara - Antigua Recreation Ground

Lara celebrates after scoring a record 375 runs at the Recreation Ground in St John's, Antigua.

It was the Caribbean ground with the most soul, located in the heart of St John's - the capital of Antigua. The Antigua Recreation Ground encapsulated everything great about the West Indies. Brian Lara ensured his tune was played the loudest at the ARG, usually at the expense of some unfortunate English bowlers.

In 1994, the left-hander cracked a swashbuckling 375 to set the world record for the highest individual innings in Tests and, after Matthew Hayden bullied 380 against Zimbabwe in 2003, Lara returned to his playground to rack up an unbeaten 400 just a few months later.

Sadly, the Rec is no longer used - for cricket purposes at least - but enjoyed a swansong in 2009 after Antigua's new international ground, the Sir Vivian Richards Stadium, was billed unfit for purpose due to a sandy pitch. With no Lara and no Rec, Antiguan cricket has never felt quite the same since.