On Wantage Road in the Abington area of Northampton, the County Ground has a history stretching back to 1886, when Northamptonshire first played cricket there. Today it remains the home of Northamptonshire County Cricket Club, though for almost a century it also doubled as a football ground, shared with Northampton Town F.C. between 1897 and 1994.
Cricket at the County Ground
Northamptonshire competed in the Minor Counties Championship from 1895 to 1904, winning the title three times before being accepted into the County Championship. Their first first-class match took place on 5 June 1905, a rain-affected draw with Leicestershire in which only 75 overs were possible. The ground has long been associated with spin bowling – in the final County Championship match of 2005, spinners Jason Brown and Monty Panesar took all 20 wickets between them. The ground also hosted two matches during the 1999 Cricket World Cup: South Africa’s win over Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh’s famous 62-run victory over Pakistan, which was Bangladesh’s first ever World Cup win.
Football and the Cobblers
Northampton Town, known as the Cobblers, played at the County Ground for 97 years. Because the cricket field occupied one side, the football ground had only three covered sides. The club joined The Football League in 1920 and, between 1958 and 1965, rose from the Fourth Division all the way to the First Division, though they were relegated after just one season at the top in 1965-66. On 7 February 1970, the ground witnessed one of the FA Cup’s more striking results when Manchester United won 8-2 in the fifth round, with George Best scoring six goals. The Cobblers finished at the bottom of the league in 1994 but avoided relegation from the Football League only because Kidderminster Harriers‘ ground did not meet the required standard. Their last match at the County Ground was on 12 October 1994, a 1-0 defeat to Mansfield Town, before they moved to the new Sixfields Stadium.
Other Uses
The ground was also used by Northampton Saints rugby union club on a few occasions in the early 1900s, and by the East Midlands Rugby Union side, most notably in 1924 when they hosted the touring All Blacks.