Cricket Ground
| Ground information | |
|---|---|
| Location | near Ibstone, Buckinghamshire |
| Establishment | 1992 (first recorded match) |
| Domestic team information | |
| Unicorns (2010–present) Buckinghamshire (1999–2005) |
|
When Mick Jagger introduced him to cricket, Getty formed such an affection for the sport that in 1992 he had a replica of The Oval built on the grounds, with a mock-Tudor pavilion. Queen Mother and prime minister John Major attended the first match, along with Michael Caine, Denis Compton and Brian Johnston. Over the final decade of his life, Getty invited teams to play at what is now known as "Sir Paul Getty's Ground"; the teams ranged from world-class sides to youth sides. Amongst those who have played there are cricketers Andrew Flintoff, Imran Khan, Mike Gatting, Michael Atherton, Mark Ramprakash, Derek Randall, and Mike Brearley and entertainment figures such as Peter O'Toole, Tim Rice, and Rory Bremner. Touring international sides regularly play at Wormsley. In recent years Wormsley has welcomed the Australians, West Indians, Sri Lankans and South Africans.
Read more about this topic: Wormsley Park
Famous quotes containing the words cricket and/or ground:
“The thing that struck me forcefully was the feeling of great age about the place. Standing on that old parade ground, which is now a cricket field, I could feel the dead generations crowding me. Here was the oldest settlement of freedmen in the Western world, no doubt. Men who had thrown off the bands of slavery by their own courage and ingenuity. The courage and daring of the Maroons strike like a purple beam across the history of Jamaica.”
—Zora Neale Hurston (1891–1960)
“The sight of one of these frontier houses, built of these great logs, whose inhabitants have unflinchingly maintained their ground many summers and winters in the wilderness, reminds me of famous forts, like Ticonderoga or Crown Point, which have sustained memorable sieges.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)