 Aerial view of Hagley Oval looking roughly south-east, toward Hadlee Pavilion. TheBotanic Gardens end is to the north (roughly left), east is thehistoric Umpires' Pavilion side, to the south is the Port Hills end and west is theChrist's College cricket ground. | |||
 Interactive map of Hagley Oval | |||
| Ground information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Location | Christchurch,Canterbury | ||
| Country | New Zealand | ||
| Coordinates | 43°32′02″S172°37′08″E / 43.534°S 172.619°E /-43.534; 172.619 | ||
| Establishment | 1851 | ||
| Capacity | 9,000 (500 seated, expandable to 18,000[1]) | ||
| End names | |||
| Port Hills end Botanic Gardens end | |||
| International information | |||
| First Test | 26–29 December 2014: New Zealand v Sri Lanka | ||
| Last Test | 02 December – 06 December 2025: New Zealand v West Indies | ||
| First ODI | 23 January 2014: Canada v Scotland | ||
| Last ODI | 16 November 2025: New Zealand v West Indies | ||
| First T20I | 1 November 2019: New Zealand v England | ||
| Last T20I | 20 October 2025: New Zealand v England | ||
| First women's Test | 7–10 March 1969: New Zealand v England | ||
| Last women's Test | 28 February – 3 March 1995: New Zealand v Australia | ||
| First WODI | 23 January 1992: New Zealand v Australia | ||
| Last WODI | 18 December 2023: New Zealand v Pakistan | ||
| First WT20I | 15 November 2015: New Zealand v Sri Lanka | ||
| Last WT20I | 2 December 2022: New Zealand v Bangladesh | ||
| Team information | |||
| |||
| As of 11 March 2024 Source:Cricinfo | |||
Hagley Oval is acricket ground inHagley Park in thecentral city ofChristchurch, New Zealand.[2] The first recorded match on the ground was in 1867, whenCanterbury cricket team hostedOtago cricket team. Canterbury used the ground infrequently from then through until the 1920s, but hardly stopped duringWorld War I.[clarification needed]
The first match in thePlunket Shield was played there in December 1907, when Canterbury played Auckland.[3] Canterbury returned there in 1979, and played a number of their 1993/94 Shell Cup home matches at the ground.
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"Cricket in Canterbury had a natural birth. The settlement in 1850 was a planned reproductions of a piece of England in a strange land 12,000 miles away. It was a church-based design, but the bat went with the bible, for if there was to be another England, there most certainly had to be cricket."[4]
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Hagley Oval's destiny as the historical and spiritual home of cricket in Canterbury was determined in the first days of a new town called Christchurch. Just four months after the arrival of thefirst four ships, the settlers to Canterbury had formed their very own cricket club. Only months later, as part of Founders' Day celebrations on 16 December 1851, the ensuing game of cricket ensured the roots of cricket in this new town.
Hagley Oval has since been identified and documented as the cornerstone of Canterbury and New Zealand cricketing activity. During the early decades the Oval hosted a series of inter-provincial matches, as well as the occasional international fixtures. It continues to host all grades of cricket, and was one of the host grounds for theICC 2015 Cricket World Cup.
The Hagley Oval Foundation was established by the Canterbury Cricket Trust and the Canterbury Cricket Association, to raise the funds necessary to fully develop Hagley Oval into an international-standard cricket venue.
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Cricket and rugby shared Lancaster Park from post World War I until well into the 1990s. By that stage the extended rugby season was encroaching onto cricket's traditional international window in February and March.
As early as 1998 Canterbury Cricket recognised the need for a purpose built cricket ground for international and provincial cricket while Rugby would move toAddington Showgrounds a rectangular venue which would be rebuilt and enlarged with a minimum capacity of 18.000 and maximum capacity of 50.000 for test matches. A return to Hagley Oval was investigated and in 2006/7 the Canterbury Cricket Association determined to prioritize it as its preferred venue. The Canterbury Cricket Trust was established and the Hagley Pavilion designs were developed by early 2011. However this was forced by the 2010/11 earthquakes that damaged Lancaster Park.
The firstOne Day International at the ground was played betweenScotland andCanada during the2014 Cricket World Cup Qualifier on 23 January 2014. The ground has also hosted threeWomen's Test matches and six Women'sODIs.
In 2013 the controversial Canterbury Cricket proposal to develop Hagley Oval as an international cricket venue was approved by theEnvironment Court.[5] During the process of building and renovation of the Oval, it suffered two major floods in 2013.
In 2014, Hagley Oval became the eighthTest venue in New Zealand. TheBoxing Day match againstSri Lanka marked New Zealand's first Test inChristchurch since the city was hit by amajor earthquake in 2011, but nearly 10 years sinceLancaster Park held what became the final match in Christchurch in 2006.[6][7]Brendon McCullum scored his fastest test hundred in New Zealand's history. He also scored his 1000th test run in the 2014 calendar year, but missed out on his 4th test double century in that calendar year.
Hagley Oval hosted NZ's opening ceremony and match for the2015 ICC Cricket World Cup, while their final match as host of the World Cup was betweenEngland andScotland on 23 February 2015, which was a day after the 4th anniversary of2011 Christchurch earthquake.
When the Oval has no matches scheduled, it can still be used as a community park, with youth level, mixed-gender cricket being played on Saturdays. The tent-like pavilion was named after theHadlee Family when the old Hadlee stand ofLancaster Park being demolished first after the Park become unusable. The pitch is oval but widthways not lengthways, with 11 wickets in the block of which 10 are approved for Tests with full boundaries. This makes it the largest cricket ground in New Zealand. There are no drop-in pitches required. It emulates certain aspects ofLord's and a large and fast outfield ofAdelaide Oval, so it slopes down evenly outside the boundaries.[8]
The filmResume Play – A new era for cricket in post-earthquake Christchurch tells the story of cricket in Christchurch, how it was affected by the2011 Christchurch earthquake, and the controversial development of Hagley Oval into an international facility that hosted the opening match of the Cricket World Cup. It was produced by Canterbury Cricket with support from Sport New Zealand, and it features interviews with club cricketers, city leaders, "backyard cricketer" Prime Minister John Key and many of New Zealand's leading players, including SirRichard Hadlee,Stephen Fleming, andTom Latham.[9]
Capacity– Approx. 20,000
Playing dimensions–149m x 149mWICKETS–11
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The Pavilion provides a community facility which is available for community groups all year round. The Pavilion is available for other sport codes. The building was designed by Trevor Watt from leading New Zealand architects, Athfield Architects and built by Southbase Construction in less than ten months under adverse conditions.[citation needed]
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In 1864 this pavilion was erected on the first Canterbury Cricket Club's grounds, called Dilloway's, in order to be ready in time for the visit of an English eleven, captained by George Parr. In the match against Canterbury the English team won convincingly but were impressed by the facilities provided at the grounds at the north-western corner ofSouth Hagley Park (by the junction of Deans and Riccarton Avenues). The well prepared field was neatly fenced and the handsome pavilion, the envy of other local clubs still using tents on match days, provided fine accommodation. Of timber construction the pavilion was built to a traditional English design and provided changing facilities, a communal area for meetings and teas, an open verandah and a viewing balcony.
Two years later the pavilion was moved to its present site on Hagley Oval where it was the home of various clubs, the last in the 1980s being Marist. By this date it had served over 120 years and there was concern as to whether it could be retained It had been altered and upgraded several times and had been declared unsafe by the City Council in 1954. The local umpires' association took over the building in 1988 with the intention of restoring it. Under the guidance of the New Zealand Historic Places Trust the building has been fully upgraded, its original appearance returned and it continues to serve a useful function for cricket in Canterbury.
Certainly the oldest cricket pavilion in New Zealand, the building may even be the oldest such structure surviving in Australasia. (Local cricketers are prepared to claim it as the oldest in the Southern Hemisphere until this can be proved incorrect!)[citation needed]
In December 2003 the building was registered byHeritage New Zealand as a Category 2 Building.
Hagley Oval had often been overlooked for international matches on the grounds of not having any lights, and therefore not being able to hold matches that went into the evening. In 2013, resource consent was granted for four retractable lights to be installed at Hagley Oval, which was later changed to consent for six permanent lights in response to continual improvements to broadcasting standards. Approval for the lights was finalised in 2019,[10] and a loan secured from the Christchurch City Council in May 2020.[11]
In November 2020, the six 49m-high lights were installed, making Hagley Oval the only cricket ground on the South Island with "broadcast quality" lighting. The installation had faced some opposition from local residents, who had wanted to preserve the character of the park. The first match utilising the lights was on 10 January 2021, betweenCanterbury andCentral Districts.
