County Cricket Ground, Northampton

The County Ground, is a cricket venue on Wantage Road in the Abington area of Northampton, UK. It is home to Northamptonshire County Cricket Club.

It is known to be a venue which favours spinners, and in the last County Championship game of 2005, Northamptonshire's two spin bowlers Jason Brown and Monty Panesar took all 20 wickets for Northamptonshire.

Northamptonshire played their first match at the ground in 1886 before competing in the Minor Counties Championship competition between 1895 and 1904, winning the title three times. They were accepted into the County Championship and played their first first-class match at the ground on June 5, 1905. Northamptonshire drew with Leicestershire in a rain-hit match that only permitted 75 overs of play.

The County Ground hosted two 1999 Cricket World Cup matches. South Africa's victory over Sri Lanka and Bangladesh's first ever World Cup victory against eventual finalists Pakistan by 62 runs.

Northampton Town FC

Northampton Town F.C. also known as "The Cobblers" played their home games for 97 years at the County Ground between 1897 and 1994. The ground only had three sides with an open side due to the size of the cricket ground.

The team began in the Northants League working upward through various leagues before being elected to the Football League in 1920. The team played in all four main divisions during their tenure at the County Ground. Between 1958 and 1965 the team rose from Division 4 all the way to the top tier, the...
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