The Postcard
A postally unused postcard that was published by Photo Precision Ltd. of St. Ives, Huntingdon. The card has a divided back.
Edgbaston Cricket Ground
Edgbaston Cricket Ground, also known as the County Ground or Edgbaston Stadium, is a cricket ground in the Edgbaston area of Birmingham.
It is home to Warwickshire County Cricket Club and its T20 team Birmingham Bears.
Edgbaston has also been the venue for Test matches, One-Day Internationals and Twenty20 Internationals.
Edgbaston has hosted the T20 Finals Day more than any other cricket ground. Edgbaston is the main home ground for the Birmingham Phoenix in The Hundred competition from 2021.
Edgbaston was the first English ground outside Lord's to host a major international one-day tournament final when it hosted the ICC Champions Trophy final in 2013.
With permanent seating for approximately 25,000 spectators, it is the fourth-largest cricketing venue in England, after Lord's, Old Trafford and The Oval.
Edgbaston has played host to matches in major tournaments as it hosted matches in the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019 where England won its first World Cup and the ICC Champions Trophy 2017 where Pakistan won.
Edgbaston also hosted the first women's T20 event at the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games where Australia won the gold medal match.
Edgbaston was the venue of the first senior game under floodlights in English cricket in July 1997 between Warwickshire and Somerset in the then AXA Life Sunday League, and hosted the first day/night Test match in England in August 2017 when England played the West Indies.
-- Early History of Edgbaston Cricket Ground
The land that now makes up Edgbaston Cricket Ground was originally owned by the Calthorpe Estate, who have now sold the site onto Wylam Investments on a long lease.
Calthorpe Estates had developed the manor of Edgbaston into an exclusive Birmingham suburb over the course of the 19th. century, and believed that a cricket ground would be an asset that would add to the genteel image of the area.
Warwickshire County Cricket Club had considered Rugby and Leamington Spa for their headquarters, but club secretary William Ansell believed that Birmingham's large population and comprehensive railway connections made it preferable – envisaging first-class status for the county, and Test status for the ground.
The club had initially favoured the Wycliffe Ground on Pershore Road, but were instead offered a 12-acre "meadow of rough grazing land" in an undeveloped area on the banks of the River Rea by the Calthorpe Estate – the less attractive development land having more to gain from association with the cricket ground.
With the site only 20 minutes' walk from New Street Station, Warwickshire agreed in 1885 to lease the land for £5 per acre over a 21-year period.
A further £1,250 was spent on draining and enclosing the site and building a wooden pavilion.
The new ground's first match took place on the 7th. June 1886 against the MCC, watched by 3,000 spectators over two days, with 6,000 turning out on the 9th. and 10th. August to watch Warwickshire play Australia.
Edgbaston's first Test match was the first in The Ashes series against Australia in 1902, for which the club erected a permanent stand, two temporary stands and facilities for 90 members of the press. These developments cost a total of £1,500, however, and Warwickshire's share of the tour funds was only £750.
-- Post-War Development of Edgbaston Cricket Ground
The first piece of development in the post-war era was the construction of the Rea Bank and the Thwaite Memorial Scoreboard in 1950.
In 1956 an Indoor Cricket School was built, and the Pavilion Suite was completed in the same year.
By the time the William Ansell Stand opened in 1967 the facilities at Edgbaston were considered to rival those at Lord's.
In 1989 executive boxes were added to the rear of the Priory and Raglan Stands, and the Stanley Barnes Stand was reconstructed and enlarged, expanding the ground capacity of 17,500.
In July 1997, Edgbaston was the scene of the first competitive floodlit day-night cricket match in Great Britain.
The pavilion end on the south side of the ground was completely redeveloped between 2010 and 2011 at a cost of £32 million, partly paid for from a £20 million loan from Birmingham City Council, bringing the ground's capacity up to 25,000.
Demolition of the pavilion – parts of which dated back to the 1890's – and the Leslie Deakins, R. V. Ryder and William Ansell Stands took place in January 2010, with construction of the new South and West Stands starting in April 2010 and reaching completion 66 weeks later.
5 permanent floodlight pylons were erected around the ground at the same time, allowing up to 15 days of day-night cricket annually.
The new development was officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh on the 25th. July 2011.
The first test match to be played at the redeveloped venue was the third Test vs India on the 10th. August 2011, which saw England reach the number 1 position in the ICC Test Championship for the first time with victory by an innings and 242 runs on the fourth day of the match.
Wisden's guide to cricket grounds in 1992 commented that:
"Lord's is really its only superior
in the United Kingdom."
The Daily Telegraph agreed in 2009 that:
"Taken all in all, it is now the best ground outside Lord's".[18] After the opening of the new South and West Stands in 2011 the England and Wales Cricket Board commented that "the spacious facilities are cutting edge, marginally better than the Home of Cricket".[2]
The atmosphere at Edgbaston is reputed to be the most hostile in England for visiting teams.[19] Former England captain Alec Stewart recalled "On a world level I would put it up there with Eden Gardens in Calcutta, which holds about 100,000. It inspires a team. It's like having another man in your side."[19] and the former England wicketkeeper Geraint Jones describes how "The crowd here makes such a big noise when you are doing well ... it's a unique environment".[19] After winning the 2015 Ashes Test Match with Australia at Edgbaston, England captain Alastair Cook commented "The Edgbaston crowd was up there with the loudest I can remember. With some of the chants, even guys who have played a fair bit of cricket were looking at each other and realising how special it was. Edgbaston has been a fantastic venue for us."[20]
The record attendance at a County Championship match at Edgbaston is 28,000 against Lancashire in the championship-winning season of 1951, and the record for a single day of a test match is 32,000 against the West Indies in 1957.[12]
For some years until 2000, Edgbaston had a distinctive motorized rain cover system, known as the Brumbrella.
Stands and spectator facilities
South Stand. Built over the site of the previous pavilion in 2011, the stand is a multi-tiered structure which holds the Press Box, hospitality suites, players changing rooms, administration offices, Visitor and Learning Centre, the Club shop and banqueting halls. The South Stand (Pavilion) has a seating capacity of over 4,000 spectators.
West Stand. Built in 2011 on the site of the previous William Ansell Stand, the West Stand has two large tiers of seating. Adjacent to the south is the Edgbaston Suite – a 750-seat banqueting and exhibition space whose bright blue presence is a distinctive feature of both the inside and the outside of the ground – above which facing the pitch is a large electronic scoreboard.
The Raglan and R. E. S. Wyatt Stands, with Birmingham City Centre in the distance
Drayton Manor Family Stand – (Priory Stand). This is the main family stand at Edgbaston and was renamed in 2014 with a sponsorship deal with Drayton Manor Theme Park. It has a single tier structure and is between the West and Raglan Stands. The environment of this stand is designed to be suitable for families with children.
Raglan Stand. This is a single tier structure and is parallel to the wicket on the opposite side to the Eric Hollies Stand. The Raglan Stand is the location of the Aylesford Hospitality Boxes situated at the rear overlooking the ground.
R. E. S. Wyatt Stand. Built at the City End in 1995 and named after the Warwickshire and England all-rounder Bob Wyatt, who died that year,[21] the R. E. S. Wyatt Stand consists of a single tier of seating beneath two rows of executive boxes. Facilities in the stand include two pitch-view restaurants: the Marston's Suite and the Executive Club,[22] together with the David Heath Suite, currently used by Warwickshire members.
Scrivens (Press Box) Stand. Built in 1957 and first used for that year's test match against the West Indies, this stand was given to the club by Langton Iliffe, 2nd Baron Iliffe and his fellow directors of the Coventry Evening Telegraph. It hosted the ground's press facilities until the opening of the new South Stand in 2011.[23] A two tier stand, it is allocated as an alcohol-free family area for top-class matches.[24] Now named the Scrivens Stand after a sponsorship deal with Scrivens Opticians.
Stanley Barnes Stand. A small single tier stand opened in 1989, the Stanley Barnes Stand is situated in front of the Thwaite Memorial Scoreboard, the ground's most distinctive feature.[12]
Eric Hollies Stand. Formerly known as the Rea Bank, after the River Rea which runs immediately to its rear, this is traditionally the most raucous area of the ground.[2] The stand was renamed after the Warwickshire and England leg-spinner Eric Hollies in 1989,[12] and was rebuilt in 2003 with 5,900 seats, an increase of 1,300 over its predecessor. The design won a 2003 Civic Trust Award, and British Constructional Steelwork Association Structural Steel Award. It features a series of eight aluminium sunshades suspended over the single tier of seating on simple steel masts, appearing to hover over the crowd beneath.[25]
