52 Park Drive, Central

Page Creator: Stratlec Trust

52 Park Drive, Central, Gqeberha is presently home to the Union Cricket Club.

The world-class 18 500-seater St Georges Park Cricket stadium, set within the grounds of the beautiful St George's Park, is testament to citizens of Gqeberha whose love of the game began with the arrival of the British settlers.

The English troops en route to occupy South Africa in 1795 brought cricket bats and balls along with them in their trunks as an essential part of their kit. Likewise during their second occupation in 1809, they packed their cricket bats with their martial kit.

There is a legend about one of the early 1820 Settlers wading through the surf of Algoa Bay to the shores of his new homeland, cricket bat held aloft to ensure that it would not get wet.

A few months after the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club was established in 1859, the Port Elizabeth town council agreed to lease two acres of land to the club. The barren piece of veld was cleared by the members who also paid for the ground's upkeep.

Thus the Port Elizabeth Cricket Club was founded, becoming the oldest cricket club in the country still playing from the same venue today.

Shortly after the cricket ground was laid out, the Town Council decided to establish St George's Park, enclosing a huge tract of land with sufficient space for various other pastimes, the Knickerbockers (later the Union Cricket Club) leased some adjacent land, along with several other sports, such as tennis (1878), athletics (1881), lawn bowls (1882) and rugby (1887).

On 20 November 1869,  Port Elizabeth witnessed a cricket match played between the P.E. Club and the newly established Union Club, which had been launched in 1867 as the Knickerbocker Club. However due to lack of a ground, they shared the St Georges Park facility with that of the P.E.C.C.

In 1873, the Union Cricket Club were granted a piece of ground from the Town Council west of the existing cricket ground for its own use.

During January 1876, a highly successful cricket festival billed as the “Canterbury Week” was held in Port Elizabeth. Based upon an original proposal by John Chabaud, cricket teams from Grahamstown, King William’s Town and Cape Town met in Port Elizabeth to play against each other. This was the first time in the Colony’s history that such an event had been organised. The Champion Bat, donated by the Municipality, was won by King William’s Town in 1876 and 1880 and by Port Elizabeth in 1884. The bat, enclosed in an oak case, was constructed of a whalebone and a satinwood handle, tipped and capped with silver.

Contact

Address: 52 Park Drive, Central, Gqeberha

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/unioncricketclubpe/

Email: unioncricketclubpe@gmail.com

Phone: 041 373 3131

References

Port Elizabeth: A Social Chronicle to the end of 1945 by Margaret Harradine (2004, Historical Society of Port Elizabeth, Port Elizabeth)