Headingley Cricket Ground is a cricket ground in the Headingley Stadium complex in Headingley, Leeds, England. It adjoins the Headingley Rugby Stadium through a shared main stand, although the main entrance to the cricket ground is at the opposite Kirkstall Lane end. It has hosted Test cricket since 1899 and has a capacity of 18,350.
History A sports ground at Headingley was developed by a group of benefactors led by Lord Hawke who was instrumental in the establishment of Yorkshire County Cricket Club; initially the ground was intended to be used for six sports; cricket, rugby, football, tennis, bowls and cycling. The first recorded first class cricket match took place at Headingley in September 1890. Prior to 1890 Yorkshire played matches around the county with the initial headquarters being at Bramall Lane in Sheffield. Yorkshire continued to use Bramall Lane as a secondary ground until 1973. In 1903 Yorkshire moved their base to Headingley. The mainstand shared between cricket and rugby was destroyed by fire in 1932; this was promptly replaced by a structure which stood until being demolished in 2018. In 2005 the ground was acquired by Yorkshire County Cricket Club from Leeds Cricket, Football and Athletic Company, the company established by Lord Hawke when the ground was first established. The first redevelopment of the ground undertaken under ownership of Yorkshire County Cricket Club was the development of the Carnegie Pavilion which was completed in 2010.
Notable sporting moments
In 1902, Yorkshire beat the touring Australians by five wickets, after dismissing them for 23 in their second innings with George Herbert Hirst and Stanley Jackson taking five wickets each.
Donald Bradman's innings of 334 in the 1930 Ashes Test included 309 runs on the first day, and he followed it in the Australians' next test at Headingley in 1934 with an innings of 304.
Spinner Hedley Verity took 10 wickets for 10 runs in 1932 for Yorkshire v. Nottinghamshire, still the best bowling analysis ever in first-class cricket. Verity had also taken all ten against Warwickshire at Headingley in 1931.
In the Fourth Test of the 1948 Ashes series, Australia scored 404 for three on the last day to beat England. Arthur Morris scored 182 and Bradman scored 173 not out.
In the Third Test against New Zealand in 1965 John Edrich hit 53 fours and 5 sixes in his 310 not out. Captain M. J. K. Smith declared before Edrich had a chance to pass Gary Sobers' Test record 365 not out, and England won by an innings and 187 runs.
In the third test match of the 1975 Ashes series (a four-Test series), early on Tuesday 19 August head groundsman George Cawthray discovered that campaigners calling for the release from prison of George Davis had dug holes in the pitch and poured oil over one end of the wicket. This led to the match being abandoned and declared a draw, denying England the chance to win back the Ashes.
In the 1977 Ashes test, Geoff Boycott scored his hundredth first-class hundred. Four days later, by winning the same game, England won the series and regained the Ashes.
In the third Test of the 1981 Ashes England were forced to follow on. However Ian Botham scored 149 not out, and then Bob Willis took eight wickets for 43, to give England an eventual 18-run victory. Two members of the Australian team had taken the 500–1 odds. This was only the second time in the entire history of Test cricket that a side had followed-on and won; something which would not occur again until 2001.
In the Test of 1991, Graham Gooch scored a match-winning 154 not out, carrying his bat throughout England's second innings of 252, against the West Indies including Malcolm Marshall, Curtly Ambrose and Courtney Walsh.
In a game they had to win to stay in the 1999 ICC Cricket World Cup, the eventual cup-winners Australia chased down South Africa's 271 for seven after being 48 for three. Steve Waugh, who had been dropped by Herschelle Gibbs as he attempted to throw the ball up in celebration, scored 120 not out.
In 2000, England dismissed the West Indies for 61 to win in two days, with Andy Caddick taking four wickets in an over. England won again seven years later in 2007, as Ryan Sidebottom took eight wickets for 86 in two innings as England subjected the Windies to their worst Test defeat ever, an innings and 283 runs.
In August 2001, England successfully chased 315 to beat Australia, with Mark Butcher scoring an unbeaten 173 as England won by six wickets. However, in August 2009 in the 4th test of The Ashes series, Australia beat England in days by an innings and 80 runs. Australia took twenty wickets with an attack without a spin bowler. England's middle order batsmen (Ravi Bopara, Ian Bell and Paul Collingwood) scored 16 runs between them in two innings. However, these were rogue results, with the 2009 series being won by England and the 2001 series won by Australia.
Sachin Tendulkar, Sourav Ganguly, Rahul Dravid slammed centuries when India played England at Headingley from 22 to 26 August 2002. A venue where England used to bank on for home comforts showcased Team India's convincing win as the then visitors thrashed the Three Lions to clinch the 3rd Test of the four-match series.
While Tendulkar top-scored for India with his majestic 193 off 330 balls, Ganguly played an entertaining knock of 128 off 167 balls. Ganguly and Tendulkar added 249 runs for the 4th wicket to help India register its highest total against England in 2002. In reply, Nasser Hussain's team folded for 273 in their 1st innings and India opted to impose a follow-on.
Skipper Hussain then lifted England with his 110 off 194 in the 2nd innings. However, Hussain's century went in vain as England only mustered 309 in their 2nd innings. India recorded one of the biggest wins over England by winning the 3rd Test by an innings and 46 runs.
On 17 August 2017, Yorkshire Vikings posted the highest ever T20 score in English domestic cricket of 260–4, with Adam Lyth scoring the highest individual score (161) in English T20 domestic cricket.
Twelve days later, Shai Hope scored two centuries in the test match between England and the West Indies, making him the first batsman in first-class cricket at Headingley to score a century in both innings of a match.
It hosted four matches at the 2019 ICC Cricket World Cup.
On 25 August 2019, England chased down their highest ever fourth innings target in the third Test of the 2019 Ashes series against Australia. England scored 362–9 to win, with Ben Stokes scoring 135*, while being latterly partnered by Jack Leach who scored 1*.
In the third test of the 2023 Ashes, England had a 3-wicket win against Australia.
Present facilities The ground presently has a spectator capacity of 18,350 making it the fifth largest cricket ground in the United Kingdom by capacity. There is a large media centre to the north of the ground. Corporate facilities are situated in the Emerald Stand, the Carnegie Pavilion and the East Stand. The East Stand also contains banqueting facilities and the Headingley Lodge Hotel. The ground has floodlights enabling late play.
Recent and future developments Yorkshire County Cricket Club are expanding the ground according to a six phase masterplan with points as follows
Phase one – the erection of four floodlights (completed 2015) Phase two – the rebuild of the rugby ground end in conjunction with the redevelopment of the North Stand on the rugby side (completed 2019) Phase three – the addition of 915 seats in the north east corner (not yet undertaken) Phase four – the development of a five level new pavilion, members long room and dressing facilities to sit over the existing north west corner adjacent to the Carnegie Pavilion (not yet undertaken) Phase five – A translucent cantilever roof to be erected over the White Rose Stand (not yet undertaken) Phase six – landscaping on the White Rose Stand and North East concourses (not yet undertaken)
Test cricket records
Batting +Most career runsRunsPlayerPeriod963 (6 innings) Don Bradman1930–1948897 (16 innings) Geoffrey Boycott1964–1981849 (17 innings) John Edrich1964–1975776 (22 innings) Graham Gooch1978–1994763 (19 innings) Joe Root2013–2025 +Most career runs (non-England)RunsPlayerPeriod963 (6 innings) Don Bradman1930–1948493 (6 innings) Ricky Ponting1997–2010427 (8 innings) Neil Harvey1948–1961374 (7 innings) Allan Border1981–1993 Garfield Sobers1957–1969 +Highest individual scoresRunsPlayerDate334 v. England Don Bradman11 Jul 1930310* v. New Zealand John Edrich8 Jul 1965304 v. England Don Bradman20 Jul 1934246* v. India Geoffrey Boycott8 Jun 1967236 v. England Eric Rowan26 Jul 1951 +Most centuriesCenturiesPlayerPeriod4 (6 innings) Don Bradman1930–19484 (16 innings) Geoffrey Boycott1964–19813 (7 innings) Kevin Pietersen2006–20123 (11 innings) Len Hutton1947–1953 Peter May1951–1961
+Highest batting average (3+ matches)AveragePlayerPeriod338.00 (3 innings, 2 NO) Steve Waugh1989–1997192.60 (6 innings, 1 NO) Don Bradman1930–1948108.66 (5 innings, 2 NO) Saleem Malik1987–1996101.80 (7 innings, 2 NO) Cyril Washbrook1947–195685.14 (7 innings, 0 NO) Kevin Pietersen2006–2012
Bowling +Most career wicketsWicketsPlayerPeriod54 (23 innings) Stuart Broad2008–202344 (18 innings) Fred Trueman1952–196443 (20 innings) James Anderson2003–202140 (14 innings) Bob Willis1976–198433 (14 innings) Ian Botham1977–1987 +Most career wickets (non-England)WicketsPlayerPeriod23 (7 innings) Curtly Ambrose1988–200023 (8 innings) Malcolm Marshall1980–199121 (6 innings) Imran Khan1974–198720 (6 innings) Clarrie Grimmett1926–193419 (4 innings) Terry Alderman1981–198919 (7 innings) Garfield Sobers1957–1969
+Best innings figuresFiguresPlayerDate8/43 v. Australia Bob Willis16 Jul 19818/59 v. South Africa Colin Blythe29 Jul 19078/107 v. Pakistan Neil Foster2 Jul 19877/37 v. England Jason Gillespie24 Jul 19977/40 v. South Africa Colin Blythe29 Jul 19077/40 v. England Imran Khan2 Jul 19877/51 v. New Zealand Tony Lock3 Jul 19587/53 v. England Malcolm Marshall12 Jul 19847/58 v. England Charles Macartney1 Jul 19097/70 v. England Frank Worrell25 Jul 1957 Note: best innings figures limited to 10; there have actually been ten 7-wicket match hauls at Headingley. +Best match figuresFiguresPlayerDate15/99 v. South Africa Colin Blythe29 Jul 190711/65 v. New Zealand Tony Lock3 Jul 195811/85 v. England Charles Macartney1 Jul 190911/132 v. Australia Fred Trueman6 Jul 196111/113 v. Australia Jim Laker12 Jul 1956 +Lowest strike rate (4+ innings)Strike ratePlayerPeriod22.2 (19 wickets) Colin Blythe1905–190727.3 (15 wickets) Aubrey Faulkner1907–191229.9 (13 wickets) Liam Plunkett2007–201430.8 (12 wickets) Mark Wood2015–202331.5 (4 wickets) Kevin Pietersen2006–2012
Team records
+Highest innings scoresScoreTeamDate653/4d Australia v. England22 Jul 1993628/8d India v. England22 Aug 2002601/7d Australia v. England8 Jun 1989584 Australia v. England20 Jul 1934570/7d England v. West Indies25 May 2007 +Lowest completed inningsScoreTeamDate61 v. England17 Aug 200067 v. England3 Jul 1958 England v. Australia22 Aug 201975 v. England29 Jul 190776 England v. South Africa
Partnership records +Highest partnershipsRunsWicketPlayersMatchDate3884thDon Bradman (304) & Bill Ponsford (181) v. 20 Jul 19343692ndJohn Edrich (310*) & Ken Barrington (163) v. 8 Jul 19653633rdMohammad Yousuf (192) & Younis Khan (173) v. 4 Aug 2006332*5thAllan Border (200*) & Steve Waugh (157*) v. 22 Jul 19933012ndArthur Morris (182) & Don Bradman (173*) v. 22 Jul 1948