County Cricket Ground, Chelmsford

Essex County Ground
	The Pavilion at Chelmsford
Ground information
Location	Chelmsford, Essex
Capacity	6,500
	End names
	River End; Hayes Close End
International information
First ODI	20 June 1983:; Australia v India
Last ODI	29 May 1999:; South Africa v Zimbabwe
Team information
Essex	(1925 – present)
	As of 16 December 2007; Source: CricketArchive

The Essex County Ground (ECG), is a cricket venue in Chelmsford, Essex, England. It has been home to Essex County Cricket Club since 1967.^[1]

Chelmsford is a small ground, and therefore suits big-hitting batsmen. Former Essex and England batsman Graham Gooch scored most of his first-class runs there.^[1] Graham Napier scored 152 off 58 balls (16 sixes and 10 fours) in a Twenty20 match v Sussex at the ground.^[2] The success of Essex County Cricket Club in the shorter versions of the game between 2005 and 2008 led to the attraction of many new fans. Eventually the ground was regularly selling out in Twenty20 and Friends Provident Trophy games. The large amount of passionate support Essex receive at this ground has led to it being popularly referred to as 'Fortress Chelmsford'.^[3]

The Ford Motor Company had naming rights for the ground for between 2005 and 2013.^[4]^[5] Until a new sponsorship deal is made, the ground will be referred to as the "Essex County Ground" or ECG.^[5]

References

^ ^a ^b "County Ground". ESPNCricinfo. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
^ "Awesome Napier shatters records". BBC Sport. 24 June 2008. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
^ Long, James (21 May 2012). "Eagle Extras: Just how big are Essex?". Eastern Daily Press. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
^ "Essex rename ground with sponsors". BBC Sport. 17 March 2005. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
^ ^a ^b Arnold, David (17 January 2013). "Essex keen to sell name of stadium". This is total Essex. Retrieved 16 May 2013.

References

See also