Aigburth Cricket Ground in Liverpool, England, is the home of Liverpool Cricket Club. The club was founded in 1807 and is the oldest amateur sports club in Merseyside. The pavilion that sits at the Aigburth Road end of the ground is the oldest at a first class cricket ground having been designed by Thomas Harnett Harrison and built in 1880and in 2023 was granted Grade II listed status, recognising its special architectural features and significant place in the history of cricket and sporting events in the North West.
The ground hosted its maiden first-class cricket match on the 13th and 14th June 1881, when Lancashire CCC hosted Cambridge University and lost by 7 wickets.
The first time that Liverpool Cricket Club hosted an international team was in 1896 when the Australians beat Lancashire by 217 runs, the Australians visited on 8 other occasions (in 1899, 1902, 1905, 1909, 1912, 1921, 1926 and 1930). The final fixture saw the great Don Bradman play at Aigburth in a drawn 3-day match. Bradman declared afterwards that Aigburth was one of his favourite grounds in the world.
On the 24th, 25th, 26th August 1932, Gloucestershire visited Aigburth to play Lancashire in a game that saw 2 First Class records set that stand to this day. Gloucestershire’s first innings total of 514 and Wally Hammond’s individual score of 264 remain unparalleled, although Gloucestershire could only draw the match with Lancashire.
In the 1950’s and 1960’s Lancashire often played 2 county championship fixtures at Liverpool Cricket Club and in 1973 the venue hosted its only Women’s One Day International, a 60-over match between an International XI Women and Trinidad and Tobago Women during the Women’s World Cup which the International XI Women won by 7 wickets.
The all conquering West Indies team of the 1970’s-1980’s toured England in 1984 and prior to their 5-0 test series victory against England, the West Indians played a tour match against Lancashire at Aigburth. A 7,633-strong crowd watched the match on the 29th May and saw Gordon Greenidge scored 186 not out in the West Indians total of 297 for 6 in 55 overs. Inspite of a knock of 94 from Graeme Fowler, the West Indians won by 56 runs. Greenidge’s innings was his highest List-A score at Liverpool Cricket Club.
