The Oval is a cricket ground in Kennington, London. It is often popularly referred to as the ‘Kennington Oval’, but in recent years has been officially known as the ‘Fosters Oval’, ‘AMP Oval,’ and, currently, as the ‘Brit Oval’ due to various commercial sponsorship deals.

It is the home ground of Surrey C.C.C., and also traditionally hosts the final Test match of each English summer in late August or early September. The nearest tube station is also called Oval, but the ground can also be easily reached from Vauxhall.

In 1844, Kennington Oval was a market garden. The Oval was (and still is) owned by the Duchy of Cornwall. Surrey County Cricket Club was set up in 1845. The Duchy was willing to grant a lease of the land for the purpose of a cricket ground, and, on 10 March 1845, the Club signed a lease with the Otter Trustees, who held the land from the Duchy of Cornwall, ‘to convert it into a subscription Cricket Ground’, for 31 years at a rent of £120 per annum plus taxes (£20 more). The original contract for turfing the Oval cost £300; 10,000 grass turfs came from Tooting Common.

In 1868, 20,000 spectators gathered at the Oval for the first game of the 1868 Aboriginal cricket tour of England, the first tour of England by any foreign side.

Thanks to C. W. Alcock, the Secretary of Surrey from 1872 to 1907, the first ever Test match in England was played at the Oval in 1880 between England and Australia. In 1882, Australia won the Ashes Test by seven runs within two days. The Sporting Times printed a mocking obituary notice for English cricket, which duly led to The Ashes trophy, which is still contested whenever England plays Australia. The first Test double-century was scored at the Oval in 1884 by Australia’s Billy Murdoch.

In 1907, South Africa became the 2nd visiting Test team to play a Test match at this venue. In 1928, West Indies played its first Test match at this venue followed by New Zealand in 1931. In 1936, India became the 5th foreign visiting Test side to play at the Oval, followed by Pakistan in 1954 and Sri Lanka in 1998. Zimbabwe and Bangladesh are yet to play a Test match at the venue.

The first One-day International match at this venue was played on September 7, 1973 between England and West Indies. It had the privilege of hosting matches of the 1975, 1979, 1983 and 1999 World Cups. It also hosted five of the fifteen matches in the 2004 ICC Champions Trophy, including the final. No floodlit day/night international match has been played here to date, although Surrey have played several floodlit one-day matches.

During the Second World War, the Oval was intended for use as a prisoner of war camp, although it was never employed as such.

Vauxhall End development:

At the end of the 2002 cricket season, Surrey started redeveloping the Vauxhall End. The development included knocking down the outdated Surridge, Fender, Jardine and Peter May north stands, and creating in their place a large, state-of-the-art, four tier grandstand. This work was completed in May 2005, increasing ground capacity to around 23,000.

Football:

The Oval has also been an important site in the historical development of football, before the game had its own separate national stadium. On March 16, 1872, The Wanderers beat the Royal Engineers 1-0 to win the first ever FA Cup. The Oval hosted all subsequent FA Cup finals (1873 excluded) up until 1892.

A year after that first FA Cup final, on March 8, 1873, the England national team played its first home match at the Oval, against Scotland. Their 4-2 win was the first victory in international competition. England would continue to play occasionally at the Oval until 1889.

The Oval is one of two grounds (Bramall Lane in Sheffield being the other) to have staged both England Football and Cricket internationals, and also FA Cup Finals.

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Surrey Cricket
The Oval wikipedia entry
England and Wales Cricket Board – ECB
BBC cricket coverage

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