Newlands Cricket Ground in Cape Town is a South African cricket ground. It's the home of the Cape Cobras, who play in the SuperSport Series, MTN Domestic Championship and Standard Bank Pro20 competitions. It is also a venues for Test matches. Newlands is regarded as one of the most beautiful cricket grounds in the world, being overlooked by Table Mountain and Devil's Peak. It is close to Newlands Stadium, which is a rugby union and football venue.
The ground hosted its first Test match in March 1889 when England defeated South Africa by an innings and 202 runs. As of June, 2006, there have been 40 Test matches played at the ground of which South Africa has won 13, their opponents 19 and 8 which ended in a draw. The last team besides Australia to beat South Africa there was New Zealand, in 1961[1].
The first One Day International played at the ground was in December 1992 when South Africa beat India by 6 wickets. As of June, 2006, there have been 28 One-day Internationals played at the ground including five in the 2003 Cricket World Cup. South Africa has won 19 of its games there, and the opposition 3 (the West Indies being the most recent opposition victor in 2002)[2].
Over the past five years numerous changes have been made to the ground. This has slightly taken away from its former splendor. Large portions of the grass embankments have been replaced by pavilions increasing the seating capacity to 25,000.
Newlands is one of the few cricket grounds in South Africa that tends to favour spinners. Most grounds tend to favour pacemen or batsmen, but the Western Cape has had a history of having very good spinners, a recent example being Paul Adams.
The ground has also hosted exhibition matches in Australian rules football. In 1998, a crowd of 10,123 saw the Brisbane Lions play Fremantle.
Official name
The ground's official name is "Sahara Park Newlands", acknowledging a commercial sponsorship arrangement. However, South African, and other cricket fans, continue to call the ground by its historic name, simply "Newlands".
See also
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Coordinates: 33°58′25.32″S 18°28′8.16″E / 33.9737°S 18.4689333°E
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