Grace Road
Cricket ground in Leicester, England
title: "Grace Road" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["cricket-grounds-in-leicestershire", "sports-venues-in-leicester", "leicestershire-county-cricket-club", "sports-venues-completed-in-1878"] description: "Cricket ground in Leicester, England" topic_path: "sports" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grace_Road" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::summary Cricket ground in Leicester, England ::
::data[format=table title="Infobox cricket ground"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| ground_name | Grace Road |
| image | Grace Road Pavilion.jpg |
| caption | The Pavilion at Grace Road |
| country | England |
| location | Leicester, England |
| establishment | 1878 |
| seating_capacity | 6,000 cricket matches / 19,999 music concerts |
| end1 | Pavilion End [[Image:GraceRoadCricketGroundPitchDimensions.svg |
| end2 | Bennett End |
| international | true |
| firstodidate | 11 June |
| firstodiyear | 1983 |
| firstodihome | India |
| firstodiaway | Zimbabwe |
| lastodidate | 27 May |
| lastodiyear | 1999 |
| lastodihome | Scotland |
| lastodiaway | West Indies |
| onlywtestdate | 8–12 August |
| onlywtestyear | 2006 |
| onlywtesthome | England |
| onlywtestaway | India |
| firstwodidate | 30 June |
| firstwodiyear | 1984 |
| firstwodihome | England |
| firstwodiaway | New Zealand |
| lastwodidate | 4 June |
| lastwodiyear | 2025 |
| lastwodihome | England |
| lastwodiaway | West Indies |
| year1 | 1894 – present |
| club1 | Leicestershire |
| date | 21 September |
| year | 2021 |
| source | https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/11/576.html CricketArchive |
| :: |
| ground_name = Grace Road | nickname = | image = Grace Road Pavilion.jpg | caption = The Pavilion at Grace Road | country = England | location = Leicester, England | establishment = 1878 | seating_capacity = 6,000 cricket matches / 19,999 music concerts | end1 = Pavilion End [[Image:GraceRoadCricketGroundPitchDimensions.svg|200px]] | end2 = Bennett End | international = true | firstodidate = 11 June | firstodiyear = 1983 | firstodihome = India | firstodiaway = Zimbabwe | lastodidate = 27 May | lastodiyear = 1999 | lastodihome = Scotland | lastodiaway = West Indies
| onlywtestdate = 8–12 August
| onlywtestyear = 2006
| onlywtesthome = England
| onlywtestaway = India
| firstwodidate = 30 June
| firstwodiyear = 1984
| firstwodihome = England
| firstwodiaway = New Zealand
| lastwodidate = 4 June
| lastwodiyear = 2025
| lastwodihome = England
| lastwodiaway = West Indies
| year1 = 1894 – present
| club1 = Leicestershire
| date = 21 September
| year = 2021
| source = https://cricketarchive.com/Archive/Grounds/11/576.html CricketArchive
| lat =52.622
| lon =-1.134
| float=right
| zoom =13
| width = 268
| height = 380
| minimap = file
| mini-file=Leicestershire UK district map (blank).svg
| mini-width=100
| mini-height=75
| minipog-x=52
| minipog-y=41
| scalemark =96
| mark-lat = 52.60781
| mark-lon =-1.142686
| label = Grace Road
|label-pos=top
| mark-title = Grace Road
| mark-image = Grace Road Cricket Ground - 2 - geograph-1942712.jpg
| mark-description = Home ground of Leicestershire Cricket Club since 1946 having first used it in 1877.
Grace Road, known for sponsorship reasons as the Uptonsteel County Ground, Grace Road, is a cricket ground in Leicester, England. It is the home ground and administrative base of Leicestershire County Cricket Club.
History
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/51/Grace_Road_Cricket_Ground_-1-_geography-387387.jpg" caption="The Bennett End of the ground"] ::
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Grace_Road_The_Meet.jpg" caption="The Meet (right)"] ::
Leicestershire County Cricket Club bought in 1877 the land on which Grace Road now stands from the then Duke of Rutland, and spent the massive sum of £40,000 on developing a cricket club, athletic track and hotel. The first match played there took place three months later, when Leicestershire played a touring Australia team. Contrary to popular belief, the road was named after Grace Margaret Yearby, the daughter of a local property owner Edward John Yearby, not W. G. Grace.
Leicestershire CCC left the Grace Road site in 1901, owing to low attendances at matches, which were blamed on lack of public transport to the ground. The club moved to a site near to Aylestone Road in order to be closer to the city centre. Leicestershire eventually returned to Grace Road in 1946, after the end of the Second World War, and has been based there ever since, re-purchasing the land in 1966.
The record attendance, at Leicestershire's match against the touring 1948 Australians, is 16,000.
International cricket
Three One Day Internationals have been played at Grace Road, although none has involved the England team.
In the 1983 Cricket World Cup eventual winners India, chasing a target of 156, beat Zimbabwe by five wickets. The second and third games were both in the 1999 World Cup. In the second Zimbabwe beat India by three runs, and in the third the West Indies beat Scotland by eight wickets.
International centuries
Women's Test centuries
One WTest century has been scored at the venue.
::data[format=table]
| No. | Score | Player | Team | Balls | Opposing team | Innings | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 115 | Claire Taylor | 233 | 3 | Drawn | |||
| :: |
Women's One-Day International centuries
Seven WODI centuries have been scored at the venue.
::data[format=table]
| No. | Score | Player | Team | Balls | Opposing team | Innings | Date | Result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 106 | Heather Knight | 109 | 1 | Won | |||
| 2 | 137 | Natalie Sciver (1/2) | 92 | 1 | Won | |||
| 3 | 104* | Deandra Dottin | 76 | 1 | Won | |||
| 4 | 117* | Sophie Devine | 116 | 2 | Won | |||
| 5 | 114 | Tammy Beaumont (1/2) | 115 | 1 | Lost | |||
| 6 | 119 | Tammy Beaumont (2/2) | 107 | 1 | Won | |||
| 7 | 120 | Nat Sciver-Brunt (2/2) | 74 | 1 | Won | |||
| :: |
Dimensions
In front of the wicket at both ends the pitch is measured at 63 metres, while square of the wicket on both sides the dimensions are recorded as 76 metres. This is the largest county ground including England's major international venues such as the Oval.
References
References
- "Leicestershire CCC".
- [http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/content/ground/57100.html Grounds - Grace Road, Leicester]
- "History of Leicestershire".
- [http://www.leicestershireccc.com/club_info/developments_grace_road.html# Main Developments at Grace Road 1878-2007] {{webarchive. link. (11 October 2008)
- [http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65071.html India v Zimbabwe 1983]
- [http://www.uk.cricket.org/link_to_database/ARCHIVE/WORLD_CUPS/WC99/SCORECARDS/GROUP-A/IND_ZIM_WC99_ODI8_19MAY1999.html India v Zimbabwe 1999] {{webarchive. link. (2012-09-19)
- [http://content-usa.cricinfo.com/ci/engine/match/65215.html Scotland v West Indies 1999]
- "Statistics / Statsguru / Women's Test Matches / Batting records". ESPNcricinfo.
- "Statistics / Statsguru / Women's One-Day International Matches / Batting records". ESPNcricinfo.
::callout[type=info title="Wikipedia Source"] This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page. ::