The History of St George's Park

St George's Park has a lot of history to be proud of. A stadium that started out in 1859 on an open piece of land on a hill just outside of Port Elizabeth, today boasts a world-class 18 500-seater stadium, right in the middle of the city.

And over the last 149 years these grounds have certainly seen a lot of action. Amongst other notably events, St George's Park was the venue for the first Test, the first women's international Test, the last Test before South Africa's expulsion from world cricket, the first ever Test series win against Australia, the first Rebel Test and the first Test with the resumption of 'normal' cricket. Not bad for what is now the sixth oldest cricket ground in the world!

In December of 1888, South Africa's international cricketing contact started with the visit of a team of English cricketers brought out by Major R Gardner Wharton. All but two of the games played during this visit were against teams fielding 15-22 players; the exception being the two matches against South Africa. The first of these, played at St. George's Park, on March 12-13 1889, has become regarded as the first Test involving South Africa. It is the first game played in this country to have been accorded first class status.

On 30 July 1891, the first ever SA rugby Test was played at St. George's Park. Britain won the Test 4-0 scoring 2 tries. A try was only worth one point and when converted, counted three.

In 1914 another Test Match was to be played at St. George's Park. South Africa lost the match by 10 wickets.

In the years 1922-24 two great sporting events took place in South Africa: the visit of the MCC side under F T Mann and that of the British Isles Rugby team.

In 1936 one of the most talented cricket sides visited Port Elizabeth - the Australians. This was the first time that the Australian eleven had undertaken an individual tour of South Africa. The match played against Eastern Province saw the EP team being beaten in two days.

In 1951, the Wallabies toured South Africa and another Rugby Test was played at the Crusaders Ground. Hennie Muller led the Springboks, and in the second half the Springboks drew well ahead to win the match 22-9.

In 1959 the Eastern Province Rugby Union decided that it had outgrown the ground and gave notice that they were to move to the Boet Erasmus Stadium in Humewood.

The years 1970-1992 were turbulent and unhappy times for South African cricket. Various attempts at unification failed and cricket over this period was played along racial lines.

The "White" administrators determined to keep the game alive embarked on a series of so called "rebel" tours. These rebel teams were made up of professional cricketers who by joining the tour effectively terminated their international careers.

A variety of these rebel tours were held - the first of which was a Graham Gooch led English eleven. In the tradition of "firsts" St. George's Park hosted the first rebel "Test".

On the centenary of the first Test Match, the South African Cricket Union decided to celebrate the occasion by playing the 1989 Currie Cup Final on the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club ground. It was stipulated that the game would be played on the Port Elizabeth Test ground irrespective of which team qualified for the final.

This could not have been a happier decision for Port Elizabeth, because Eastern Province won through to play in the five day final on March 10-14. It was the first time Eastern Province had played in a Currie Cup final, but the real cherry on top was that for the first time, led by Kepler Wessels, the team won the Cup.

EP Cricket and St. George's Park can be seen as being a vital and integral part of the South African Cricket scene evidenced by the fact that we were awarded the high profile and prestigious Cricket World Cup Semi-Final match which was staged on 18 March 2003.

St George's Park Contact Details:

Postal address: PO Box 12327 Centrahill Port Elizabeth 6006

Telephone number: 041-5851646 Fax number: 041-5864259

Email address: lindsays@cricket.co.za