Kensington Oval

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Not to be confused with Kennington Oval.

Not to be confused with Kensington Oval, Adelaide.

Kensington Oval during the Final of the 2007 Cricket World Cup , looking towards the Worrell, Weekes and Walcott stand.

The Kensington Oval is located to the west of the capital-city Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. "The Oval" is one of the major sporting facilities on the island and is primarily used for cricket. Locally referred to as "The Mecca" of cricket, it has hosted many important and exciting cricket games between local, regional, and international teams during its 120+ year history.

1 History
2 Redevelopment 2005-7
3 Recent events
4 References
5 External links

[edit] History

Cricket at the Oval began in 1882 when the Pickwick Cricket Club assumed ownership of the ground. The first international match held was in 1895 when Slade Lucas' side visited the island. The first Test match was held in January 1930, when the West Indies and England played to a draw. Since the genesis there have been a total of 43 Test matches played on the Kensington Oval grounds, 21 of those matches won by the West Indian cricket team.

[edit] Redevelopment 2005-7

The stands of the Kensington Oval were extensively rebuilt for the 2007 Cricket World Cup in a BDS$90M (US$45 Million) redevelopment. Demolition of the old stadium began on schedule in June, 2005 after completion of the first Test against Pakistan. The names of the former stands which made up the Kensington stadium were the Carib Beer-sponsored, the Eric Inniss, the Garfield Sobers Players Pavilion, the George Challenor stand, the Hall and Griffith, the Kensington, the Mitchie Hewitt, the Pickwick, and the Three Ws stand plus the Peter Short Media Centre. Most of these names have been retained. ^[1]

[edit] Recent events

The expanded Kensington stadium was the venue for the 2007 Cricket World Cup final between Australia and Sri Lanka, held on April 28. The ground and facilities were in excellent condition on the day despite some inclement weather. Official attendance was 20,108. ^[2]

The Kensington Oval has also hosted many non-cricket events like football, hockey, inter-school athletics, Miss Barbados pageants, and concert events. The ground also has a jumbo TV screen and also a jacuzzi type area, for fans to watch while relaxing in the pool (similar to Chase Field in Phoenix, Arizona). Behind this is a large grassy hill for fans to have picnics on, which has a bunker underneath for the media.