Wanderers Stadium

Bidvest Wanderers Stadium
The Bullring
South African flag at Wanderers Stadium
Ground information
Location Illovo, Sandton, Johannesburg
Coordinates 26°7′52.17″S 28°3′26.69″E / 26.1311583°S 28.0574139°E / -26.1311583; 28.0574139Coordinates: 26°7′52.17″S 28°3′26.69″E / 26.1311583°S 28.0574139°E / -26.1311583; 28.0574139
Capacity 34,000[1]
End names
Corlett Drive End
Golf Course End
International information
First Test 24–29 December 1956:
 South Africa v  England
Last Test 30 March–4 April 2018:
 South Africa v  Australia
First ODI 13 December 1992:
 South Africa v  India
Last ODI 10 February 2018:
 South Africa v  India
First T20I 21 October 2005:
 South Africa v  New Zealand
Last T20I 18 February 2018:
 South Africa v  India
Team information
Transvaal
now known as Highveld Lions		 (1956 – present)
As of 2 April 2018
Source: Cricinfo

The Bidvest Wanderers Stadium is a stadium situated just south of Sandton in Illovo, Johannesburg in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Test, One Day and First class cricket matches are played here. It is also the home ground for the Highveld Lions, formerly known as Gauteng (Transvaal).

History

The stadium has a seating capacity of 34,000, and was built in 1956 to replace the Old Wanderers Stadium. It was completely overhauled following South Africa's readmission to international cricket in 1991. In 1996, five new 65-metre-high (213 ft) floodlight masts replaced the existing four 30-metre-high (98 ft) masts, enabling day-night limited-overs cricket. It is nicknamed 'The Bullring' due to its design and intimidating atmosphere.

On 1 October 2004, the Wanderers Clubhouse was virtually destroyed by fire. At that stage it was known as Liberty Life Wanderers, but as from the 2008/09 season, Bidvest Group took up the sponsoring of the ground, thus it became its present-day name of BIDVest Wanderers Stadium. The pitch is considered very bouncy on cracks and dangerous for batting, as acknowledged in 2009 ICC Champions Trophy, and teams like Pakistan and Sri Lanka have always struggled there.

Domestic hosting

The stadium had also hosted the 2009 Indian Premier League's second semi-final and the final in which the Deccan Chargers beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore to grab the championship title.

The Wanderers Stadium also hosted a rugby union test match in April 1980 between South Africa and the South American Jaguars while Johannesburg's normal venue, Ellis Park Stadium, was being redeveloped.[2]

Trivia

The ground is among the most historically significant cricket grounds of the twenty-first century. It has staged some of the most important matches in ODI and T20I history, and has witnessed a number of outstanding world records.

The 2003 Cricket World Cup final was held at the Wanderers Stadium. This stadium also hosted one of the greatest One-day international matches, played between South Africa and Australia in which a world record score of 434 was chased down by South Africa. It hosted matches of the 2007 ICC World Twenty20 including the first match and the final which was won by India, who defeated Pakistan.

In a T20 played on 11 January 2015, between West Indies and South Africa, West Indies chased a world record score of 236 in any T20 International cricket match.

On 18 January 2015, the Wanderers stadium saw South Africa's AB de Villiers break the 19-year-old record for fastest ODI half-century, previously held by Sri Lankan maestro Sanath Jayasuriya, by making 50 off 16 balls against the West Indies. In the same match, he also broke Corey Anderson's fastest ODI century record (held for one year and seven days) by making 100 off 31 deliveries. He finished on 149, caught on the boundary in the final over, scored off 44 balls with a strike rate of 338.63.[3]

On 21 February 2016, AB de Villiers scored the fastest 50 (21 balls) for South Africa in a T20I against England.[4]

In July 2018, the stadium hosted former US President, Barack Obama at the Nelson Mandela Lecture. [5]

See also

References

  1. ↑ www.wanderers.co.za
  2. ↑ Michael Owen-Smith (1990). Tim Jolland, ed. Test Match Grounds of the World. Willow Books. p. 186. ISBN 0002182823.
  3. ↑ "South Africa vs West Indies 2nd ODI 2015". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "Dominant SA cruise to nine-wicket win". ESPNcricinfo. 21 February 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  5. ↑ "Barack Obama delivers Mandela centenary address in Joburg". News24. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
Events and tenants
Preceded by
Lord's		 Cricket World Cup
Final Venue
2003		 Succeeded by
Kensington Oval
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