The Kensington Oval is situated to the west of the capital city of Bridgetown on the island of Barbados. The Kensington Oval is known as the the Mecca of cricket in the Caribbean islands and has hosted many important and nail biting finish cricket games between island and international teams in its history more than 120 years old. The Kensington Oval is one of the most important popular cricket grounds in Caribbean cricket.

The first cricket was played at the Kensington Oval in 1882 with Pickwick Cricket Club assuming ground ownershop. While the first international match was in 1895, the first Test match was in the January of 1930, when both the countries played for a draw. To date, there have been 43 test matches played at Kensington Oval with 21 being won by the West Indians. A good record for West Indies cricket. Kensington Oval stands were rebuilt in a US$45 Million redevelopment for the World Cup 2007.

All the old stands such as Carib Beer-sponsored, Eric Inniss, Garfield Sobers Players Pavilion, George Challenor stand, Hall and Griffith, Kensington, Mitchie Hewitt, Pickwick, and Three Ws stand and Peter Short Media Center stands were demolished. The names have been retained for most of the stands in the redevelopment.

The redeveloped Kensington Oval stadium was the site for the Cricket World Cup 2007 final between Sri Lanka and Australia held in end April. The ground and facilities were in excellent condition on the day despite some inclement weather. Some 20000 spectators were at the stadium. The Kensington Oval has a gigantic television screen and a Jacuzzi type area which fans can watch while relaxing in the pool. There is also at the Kensington Oval, a big grassy hill for more relaxed fans to enjoy their picnics and the hill has a bunker underneath for the media.


Popular Cricket Grounds

Lord’s	Eden Gardens
Eden Park	Telstra Dome
Sabina Park	The Gabba
National Stadium at Karachi	Sydney Cricket Ground
Melbourne Cricket Ground	Queens Park Oval
Kensington Oval

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