It is located around 0.75 miles (1.21 km) north-west of Beckenham town centre on Lennard Road. The Mid-Kent railway line runs along the eastern edge of the ground with New Beckenham railway station adjacent to the south-east corner. The River Pool runs along the western edge the ground.[1]
Cricketing history
The ground was established in 1920 by the London Joint City and Midland Bank Sports Association, an organisation which dated back to 1871 and became the Midland Bank Sports association in 1923.[2] The first recorded cricket match on the ground was in 1930 when the Club Cricket Conference played the Universities Athletic Union.[3]
The ground hosted a single List-A cricket match when Kent County Cricket Club beat Lancashire in a rain affected match in the 1970 John Player League.[4] The ground was used as part of the centenary celebrations of the Midland Bank Sports association.[2] The match saw Kent win by scoring more runs in the first nine overs of their innings than Lancashire had scored in their first ten overs, scoring 58 for 1 wicket. The result attracted some controversy because technically Kent had to bat for 10 overs before able to claim a win.[5]
Beckenham was part of Kent until 1965 and the county has played matches at a number of grounds in what it describes as "Metropolitan Kent".[6][7] It maintains a current base at the Kent County Cricket Ground, Beckenham 0.5 miles (0.8 km) from the ground.
In local cricket, the ground is the home of New Beckenham Cricket Club, formerly known as HSBC Cricket Club who play in the Kent Cricket League.[11] This site includes three cricket pitches as well as a number of net areas. As well as cricket, a number of other sports are played at the ground, including hockey, football, tennis and squash.[12] The astroturf pitch is used by New Beccehamian Hockey Club which plays in the Kent Hockey League.[13]
