Adelaide Oval

The Adelaide Oval pitch runs North-South. Historically, Adelaide Oval's integral pitch was generally very good for batting, and offering little assistance to bowlers until the last day of a match. Since the redevelopment in 2013, a drop-in pitch has been used at the venue.[38]

With the 2011–2014 redevelopment completed, the oval dimensions changed to 183m x 134m, making it more suitable for Australian Rules Football, for which the playing field dimensions will be 167m x 124m.

The Hill was created in 1898 with earth from the banks of the River Torrens. The Hill for almost all sporting events at the ground is general admission and is often home to the most vocal supporters during cricket matches. The ease of people congregating on The Hill and the proximity to the Adelaide Oval Scoreboard bar is often cited as the reason why the most enthusiastic cricket supporters and barrackers choose The Hill to watch matches.

The Adelaide Oval scoreboard during an Ashes Test

The current scoreboard located on The Hill was first used in 1911 and still shows its original Edwardian architecture. The scoreboard is listed on the City of Adelaide Heritage Register, helping to maintain the charm of the ground. There is a bar located under the scoreboard.

The members' stands were the first section of the ground completed in the most recent redevelopment of Adelaide Oval. They retain significant portions of the original members' stand such as the brick archways and long room. The three segments are named after South Australian Cricket identities; from North to South named Sir Edwin Smith Stand, Sir Donald Bradman Pavilion and the Chappell Stand.

The Riverbank stand is the southern stand of Adelaide Oval, gaining its name from the River Torrens which is behind it.

The Eastern Stands hold 19,000 spectators. The five segments are named after South Australian Australian rules football identities; from North to South named Gavin Wanganeen Stand, Jack Oatey Stand, Max Basheer Stand, Fos Williams Stand, and Mark Ricciuto Stand.

In 1874 a side representing England led by W.G. Grace defeated a South Australian side by 7 wickets in what was the first international cricket match at the ground

During the third test of the 1932–33 Ashes series Bert Oldfield was struck in the head by a ball from Harold Larwood. This series became known as the Bodyline due to the controversial aggressive tactics of the English.

Adelaide Oval during the 2008 Test series between Australia and India. Sachin Tendulkar can be seen fielding in the left of the image.

Adelaide Oval during a Day-Night match for the 2015 Cricket World Cup

Test and One Day International. Adelaide Oval hosts some of the many exciting events in the cricketing calendar – including the annual Australia Day One Day International on 26 January (replacing a traditional Australia Day test) and every 4 years, one of the 5 Ashes test matches against England. The tests are now normally held in early December and is a clash between Australia and the international touring team of that particular season.

In 2011, Adelaide Oval held its first Twenty20 International between Australia and England, a match which England won by 1 wicket. Adelaide Oval was the host of the first ever day/night Test match, when Australia played New Zealand on 27 November 2015.

Adelaide Oval is the home ground for the first-class South Australian state cricket team, The West End Southern Redbacks and Twenty20 cricket team, the Adelaide Strikers. The Strikers compete in the Big Bash League. The Southern Redbacks compete in the Sheffield Shield and JLT One Day Cup

• 1873 December 13 – The first cricket game is played on the ground between Australian born players and players born overseas.
• 1874 March 1 – England beat South Australia by 7 wickets in the first international cricket match at the ground.[39]
• 1874 November 7 – South Australia play Victoria on Adelaide Oval for the first time. Victoria won by 15 runs.
• 1877 November 10 – The first first-class cricket match played at the ground was between South Australia and Tasmania. South Australia was victorious, winning by an innings and 13 runs.[40]
• 1878 January 30 – The first cricket century at the ground was scored by John Hill, 102 not out for North Adelaide against the Kent Club.[41]
• 1884 December 12 – The first Test match was played at the Oval. England beat Australia by eight wickets. (Scorecard)
• 1894 January 15 – Albert Trott collected 8/43 on debut against England, the grounds best single-innings Test match bowling figure.
• 1931 – Donald Bradman scored the highest Test score at the ground, 299 not out, against South Africa. Clarrie Grimmett collected the most Test wickets in a match at the ground, fourteen, against South Africa.
• 1932 – The Bodyline affair reached its lowest point at the ground when Bill Woodfull and Bert Oldfield were struck, and on the third day mounted police patrolled to keep the 50,962 spectators in order (a record crowd for cricket at the ground). The total attendance for the match was 174,351.
• 1946 – Arthur Morris of Australia, and Denis Compton of England both made centuries in both innings of the Test.
• 1947 – Australia scored the highest team total in a test match at the ground, 674 runs, against India.
• 1949 January 15 – The first women's test match held at the ground was between England and Australia. Australia would win by 186 runs.
• 1960 – Australia played the West Indies in the fourth test of the Frank Worrell Trophy. The match ended in a draw, with the West Indies unable to take the final wicket of the fourth innings, as the last batsmen Ken Mackay and Lindsay Kline held out for 109 minutes. West Indies bowler Lance Gibbs took the only Test cricket hat-trick at the ground in Australia's first innings. (Scorecard)
• 1975 – The first One-Day International match at the ground was between Australia and the West Indies. Australia won by 5 wickets. (Scorecard)
• 1982 – In a Sheffield Shield game against Victoria, David Hookes hit a 43-minute, 34 ball century – by some metrics the fastest hundred in history. (Statistics)
• 1991 – South Australia compiled the highest fourth innings winning total in Sheffield Shield history, reaching 6/506 (set 506 to win) against Queensland.
• 1992 – The West Indies defeated Australia by one run in the fourth test of the Frank Worrell Trophy, when a bouncer by Courtney Walsh brushed Craig McDermott's glove to end a 40-run last-wicket partnership. It was the narrowest victory ever in Test cricket. (Scorecard)
• 1997 – The first cricket match under lights was a One Day International between South Africa and New Zealand on 6 December 1997. (Scorecard)
• 1999 – Sri Lankan spinner Muttiah Muralitharan was called for throwing by umpire Ross Emerson in a One Day International against England. The Sri Lankan team almost abandoned the match, but after instructions from the president of the Sri Lankan cricket board (relayed to captain Arjuna Ranatunga by mobile phone) the game resumed.
• 2006 – During the Ashes series, many temporary stands were erected to cope with the demand for tickets. Stands were put between the Chappell stands and on the top of the hills. Australia beat England by 6 wickets on a remarkable last day. (Scorecard)
• 2014 December 10 – Michael Clarke scored his 7th century on the ground, the most test cricket centuries at the ground.
• 2015 November 27 – Adelaide Oval hosted the first ever day/night Test match, when Australia played New Zealand.[42]
• 2017 December 2 – Adelaide Oval hosted the first day/night Ashes Test.[43]
• 2018 February 4 – Adelaide Oval hosted its first Big Bash League Grand Final with the Adelaide Strikers defeating the Hobart Hurricanes for the Championship.

Adelaide Oval was the 6th venue in the world to host a test match, on 12 December 1884. Since then the venue has hosted test match cricket every summer.

• 
  Sir Donald Bradman
  (Australia) His 299* in 1932 remained the ground record until David Warner broke it in 2019.
• 
  Albert Trott
  (Australia) Best bowling figures for a single innings of 8/43 against England in 1895.
• 
  Michael Clarke
  (Australia) Most test centuries (7) at Adelaide Oval.
• 
  Shane Warne
  (Australia) Most Test wickets (56) at Adelaide Oval.
• 
  Ricky Ponting
  (Australia) Highest run scorer at Adelaide Oval with 1743 from 31 innings.

• 1877 May 12 – The first South Australian Football Association match took place on the ground between the Old Adelaide Football Club and the Bankers Football Club. The original Adelaide club won the match 4 goals to 1.[54]
• 1877 August 18 – St Kilda became the first interstate club to play at Adelaide Oval defeating the original Adelaide Football Club by three goals.[55]
• 1885 July 1 – The first football game lit by electric light at the ground was conducted at night.[56]
• 1887 June 20 – After the previous two encounters between Norwood and Port Adelaide were drawn, the South Australia interest in their next meeting set a record for Australian rules football at the time with at least 11,000 spectators present. Attending the match were Chinese General Wong Yung Ho, Consul-General U. Tsing who were both accompanied by Dr. On Lee of Sydney and Mr. Way Lee of Adelaide. The Chinese commissioners were provided the private box of the Governor of South Australia William C. F. Robinson. Norwood won the match by two goals.[57]
• 1889 October 5 – The first Grand Final in a major Australian rules football competition was played between Norwood and Port Adelaide. Norwood won the game 7.4 (7) to 5.9 (5).[58]
• 1892 August 20 – A Broken Hill side was the first team from New South Wales to play at Adelaide Oval. Norwood would beat the visitors by four goals.[59]
• 1894 October 6 – The first drawn Grand Final in a major Australian rules football competition took place when Norwood and South Adelaide both finished on 4.8 (4). Norwood won the replay by a goal.
• 1909 July 10 – Boulder City become the first Western Australian club to play at Adelaide Oval. West Adelaide defeated the visitors by 17 points.[60]
• 1911 August 5 – The Australian Football Council Carnival was held at the ground for the first time and was won by South Australia. The competing leagues fielding representative sides were the SANFL, VFL, VFA, WANFL, TSL and NSW. This was the first time a Tasmanian side had played at Adelaide Oval.
• 1914 October 3 – Port Adelaide defeated the Carlton for a record fourth Championship of Australia title defeating the Victorian side by 34 points, 9.16 (70) to 5.6 (36).
• 1929 – The record crowd for a women's Australian rules football match was set with 41,000 spectators present.[61]
• 1945 September 29 – Haydn Bunton Sr, triple Brownlow and Sandover medalist, played for Port Adelaide in the 1945 SANFL Grand Final, the only premiership decider of his career. Despite Port Adelaide obtaining a 32-point lead at quarter time, West Torrens would eventually win the match by 13 points.
• 1965 October 2 – The 1965 SANFL Grand Final crowd set the record attendance for a sporting match at the venue with 62,543 people witnessing Port Adelaide defeat Sturt by three points.
• 1972 October 15 – North Adelaide defeated Carlton to be crowned Champions of Australia defeating the Victorian side by one point being the last time a non-Victorian football side won a national championship until the West Coast Eagles won the 1992 AFL premiership.
• 1973 September 29 – The 1973 SANFL Grand Final between North Adelaide and Glenelg was the last SANFL Grand Final at Adelaide Oval until 2014. Due to the advent of the national Australian Football League in 1990, effectively relegating the SANFL to second tier, it remains the last top flight Grand Final hosted at Adelaide Oval.[62]
• 1990 September 8 – The last game at the ground before the presence of an AFL team in South Australia was between West Torrens and Woodville with the latter winning by 45 points. The clubs would merge the following year.
• 1996 July 20 – The last game at the ground involving Port Adelaide's senior team before entering the AFL was against Sturt with the former side winning by 40 points.
• 2011 September 4 – The first Australian Football League match at the venue was played between Port Adelaide and Melbourne. Port Adelaide won the match by 8 points.
• 2014 March 29 – The first Showdown, between Port Adelaide and Adelaide, was played. Port Adelaide won the game by 55 points.
• 2014 September 7 – The first Australian Football League final at the ground, an elimination final, was played between Port Adelaide and Richmond. Port Adelaide won by 57 points.[63]

The first senior league Australian rules football match was played on Adelaide Oval in 1877 between the original Adelaide club and the Bankers club. The records below cover senior Australian rules football at Adelaide Oval. These records include the South Australian league football (known as the South Australian Football Association and South Australian Football League and the South Australian National Football League) from 1877 when the first premiership matches were held at the ground till the end of the 1990 SANFL season, the last year that the competition was the highest level of Australian rules football in South Australia. In 1991 the newly created Adelaide Crows entered the Australian Football League subsequently playing the highest level of football in the state. Port Adelaide would join the Australian Football League in 1997.

• 
  Ken Farmer
  (North Adelaide) Most goals outright (347) and equal most goals alongside Neil Hawke (Port Adelaide) in a single match (15).
• 
  Port Adelaide
  The Port Adelaide Football Club won 20 Grand Finals and four Championship of Australia titles at Adelaide Oval.
• 
  South Adelaide
  The South Adelaide Football Club used Adelaide Oval as its home ground for over 100 years between 1882 and 1903 and 1905–1994.
• 
  Alfred Waldron
  (Norwood) Alfred Waldron was captain of Norwood for the 1889 SAFA Grand Final, the first Grand Final in a major Australian rules football competition.

• Before 1897 behinds were not included in the final score. During these matches the margins were 30 and 27 goals.[67][68]

• 1991 June 28 – The St. George Dragons defeated the Balmain Tigers in front of 28,884 spectators during the 1991 NSWRL season.
• 1997 March 14 – The short-lived Adelaide Rams won their first home game 10–8 against the Hunter Mariners in the 1997 Super League.
• 2020 November 4 – A NRL State of Origin match was scheduled to be held at Adelaide Oval on 1 June for the opening leg of the 2020 NRL State of Origin series but was postponed due to the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which affected the 2020 NRL season. Queensland ended up winning the rescheduled game 18–14.[72]

• 1904 July 20 – The South Australian British Football Association beat the crew aboard HMS Katoomba 9–0.[73]
• 1920 July 5 – During a visit by the Prince of Wales, a soccer match was organised between the South Australian British Football Association and the crew aboard the visiting HMS Renown with the game resulting in a draw 0–0.[74]
• 1924 October 6 – Over the course of a day three codes were played on Adelaide Oval, Australian rules football, rugby and soccer. The soccer match was between two teams, one called "Adelaide United" and the other "Hindmarsh" with the latter team winning 2–0.[75]
• 1925 – During a tour of Australia, the English Soccer team was prevented from playing on Adelaide Oval by ground administrators.
• 1937 July 29 – England beat South Australia 10–0.
• 1951 June 23 – England beat Australia 13–1. Ike Clarke scored four goals.[76]
• 1958 May 24 – English First Division club Blackpool beat Australia 1–0.[77]
• 1959 June 6 – Heart of Midlothian beat Australia 6–0.
• 2007 December 28 – Adelaide United play Sydney FC in first A-League match held at the ground.
• 2011 June 5 – Australia beat New Zealand 3–0.
• 2014 July 25 – La Liga side Málaga CF beat Adelaide United 5–1.
• 2015 July 20 – Premier League side Liverpool beat Adelaide United 2–0 in front of 53,008 spectators.
• 2016 March 24 – Australia beat Tajikistan 7–0 in a FIFA World Cup qualifier in front of 35,439 spectators.
• 2016 May 1 – The first A-League Grand Final hosted at the ground saw Adelaide United beat Western Sydney Wanderers in front of 50,119 fans.
• 2017 June 8 – Australia beat Saudi Arabia 3–2 in a FIFA World Cup qualifier in front of 29,785 spectators.

• 1882 – The first bicycle race took place on Adelaide Oval during part of a Scottish sport fete on Easter Monday that attracted a then record 15,000 spectators over the course of the day.[78]
• 1885 – The first time the Intercolonial Bicycle Championship was held at Adelaide Oval. F.H. Shackleford won the premier 10-mile race in 34 minutes 30 seconds. A.L. Henzel won the women's 3-mile bracelet race in 9 minutes 43 seconds.[80]
• 1903 – American professional cyclist Major Taylor wins the Walne Stakes in front of at least 10,000 spectators.[81] He won the half-mile in a time of 57s ± 2.5.[82] Marshall Taylor's trip to Australia to compete in cycling races inspired the 1992 film Tracks of Glory.[83]

From 2007 until 2010, Adelaide Oval hosted the Australia Sevens event in the IRB Sevens World Series.

• 1888 July 16 – England defeated South Australia 28–3 in a Rugby Union match.[84]
• 2003 October 25 – The first of two matches of the Rugby World Cup were played at Adelaide Oval. The first match saw Australia thrash Namibia 142–0. The following day Ireland defeated Argentina by one point.

• 1888 December – American Baseball administrator Albert Spalding brought the Chicago team and an additional composite team called the All-American team to Australia and played a series of three exhibition matches at the ground. Chicago would win the series 2–1.[85]
• 1934 August 12 – The final game of the inaugural 1934 Claxton Shield series was played between Victoria and South Australia with the latter state winning 5–8.[86]
• 1947 – Adelaide Oval was used for some matches of the 1947 Claxton Shield.
• 1951 – Adelaide Oval was used for some matches of the 1951 Claxton Shield.

• 13 June 1938 – During an interval of a Port Adelaide and Norwood SANFL match with 27,764 spectators present, a long distance kicking contest was held using American footballs.[87] Measurements of kicks were then compared to College footballers in the United States. Robert Elliott of North Adelaide won the competition kicking an Australian football 67 meters. Robert Elliott kicked the American football 62 meters, 13 centimetres short of the top American figure set by Jack Cohen from the UCLA Bruins using the American ball.[88]
• 4 July 1942 – An exhibition match was held by American soldiers.

• 1889 – The inaugural South Australian Tennis Championships are staged at the Oval tennis courts.[89]
• 1910 – The Australasian Tennis Championships are staged for the first time at the oval the title is won by Rodney Heath.[90]
• 1920 – Australasian Tennis Championships are staged at the oval for the second time, won by Pat O'Hara Wood.[91]

• 1904 September 3 – The premiers of the South Australian Hockey Association played a composite team of the best players from the remaining clubs.[92]
• 1905 July 15 – The first women's hockey match held at the ground was played.[93]
• 1926 – The Indian army hockey team defeat South Australia 14–0.[94]
• 1939 August 22 – Australian state hockey championship held at Adelaide Oval.[95]

Adelaide Oval has regularly been host to large outdoor concerts. Due to its high profile, proximity to the CBD and Adelaide Railway station and lack of competition for facilities of its scale in Adelaide it has often been the choice of international musicians looking to host large concerts.