Arundel Castle Cricket Ground

Many matches have been played at the ground over the years by Sussex, often as part of the Arundel Festival, an annual event held in August.[5] Arundel Castle's first List A match was a 1972 match between Sussex and Gloucestershire in the John Player League. Gloucestershire won the match by 2 wickets, helped by a five-wicket haul from Mike Procter.[6] In 1990, Arundel Castle hosted its first County Championship match. The match was between Sussex and Hampshire and ended in a draw, after Colin Wells scored a century for Sussex and Chris Smith scored a century for Hampshire.[7]

The ground has hosted some tour matches, and also MCC matches against international A sides. The first of these matches was in 2000 as part of Zimbabwe's tour of England against a West Indians team. The match ended in a draw, with West Indians Sherwin Campbell, Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul all scoring centuries, as well as Zimbabwe and Sussex cricketer Murray Goodwin.[8] In 2002, Arundel Castle hosted a drawn match between Indians and West Indies A and in 2003 it hosted a drawn match between India A and South Africans.[9][10] The ground hosted MCC matches against the Australians in 2001, the West Indians in 2004, and Sri Lanka A in 2007; the MCC lost all three matches.[11][12][13]

In June 2010, the Unicorns hosted Sussex in a match at Arundel Castle.[14] The Unicorns chased down Sussex's score of 325/4 from 40 overs, scoring 327/4, which at the time was the highest successful run chase in the history of 40-over cricket.[15][16] Batsman Wes Durston scored 117 from 68 balls for the Unicorns.[17][18]

In 2015, a T20 match between Sussex and Surrey was abandoned after Surrey cricketers Moisés Henriques and Rory Burns collided with each other whilst attempting a catch. Both players were subsequently hospitalised.[19][20]

In 2020 Hampshire played their home games in the Bob Willis Trophy at Arundel as their normal home venue of the Rose Bowl in Southampton was in use by England for Test matches.[21]

In September 2003, Zoological Society of London released 1,000 crickets – specifically Gryllus campestris, the endangered British field cricket – into the wild at the Arundel Castle ground and another undisclosed location in West Sussex.[22]

In 2012, The Sunday Telegraph included Arundel Castle in their list of "Britain's best 5 cricket grounds", calling it a "great stop on a family day out in the Sussex countryside."[23] In 2015, The Independent listed the ground in the 10 most picturesque outgrounds to watch County Cricket.[24]

• Cricinfo Website – Ground Page
• Cricket Archive page