Bellerive Oval
| Blundstone Arena | |
|
|
| Location | Bellerive, Tasmania |
|---|---|
| Coordinates | 42°52′38″S 147°22′25″E / 42.87722°S 147.37361°ECoordinates: 42°52′38″S 147°22′25″E / 42.87722°S 147.37361°E |
| Owner | Clarence City Council |
| Operator | Tasmanian Cricket Association (TCA) |
| Capacity | 20,000 |
| Field size | 175 x 135 metres |
| Surface | Grass |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1913 |
| Opened | 1914 |
| Construction cost | Unknown |
| Architect | Various |
| Tenants | |
|
Tasmanian Tigers (Cricket) Clarence Roos (TSL) Hobart Hurricanes (BBL) Hobart Hurricanes (WBBL) North Melbourne Football Club (AFL) |
|
| Website | |
| www |
|
| Ground information | |
| End names | |
| Church Street End River End |
|
| International information | |
| First Test | 16–20 December 1989: Australia v  Sri Lanka |
| Last Test | 12–16 November 2016: Australia v  South Africa |
| First ODI | 12 January 1988: New Zealand v Sri Lanka |
| Last ODI | 14 March 2015: Australia v  Scotland |
| First T20I | 10 February 2010: Australia v  West Indies |
| Last T20I | 14 January 2014: Australia v  England |
| As of 12 November 2016 Source: Cricinfo |
|
Bellerive Oval (known as Blundstone Arena due to sponsorship reasons) is a cricket and Australian rules football ground located in Bellerive, a suburb on the eastern shore of Hobart, Tasmania. It is the only venue in Tasmania which hosts international cricket matches, and has a spectator capacity of 20,000.
The venue is best known as the home ground for the state cricket teams, the Tasmanian Tigers and Hobart Hurricanes, and as a venue for international Test matches since 1989 and one-day matches since 1988. The stadium has undergone significant redevelopment to accommodate such events.
Football and cricket first started being played in the area where Bellerive Oval is now in the mid-to-late 19th century. In 1884 the first football match on record from the area was played between Carlton and Bellerive. In 1913 the piece of land located between the now Beach, Church and Derwent streets was sold to the Clarence council. One year later, the new Bellerive recreation ground was ready for use.
The ground barely changed from then until the mid-1980s. During this time the ground had a hump in the centre of the ground making only the top half of players visible from the other side of the ground. There was a shed for players located where the main pavilion now stands. There was a hill on the outer (where the hill now is) that could accommodate two rows of vehicles, the small scoreboard stood on the outer close to where the electronic scoreboard is now, and the time clock sat about halfway up a training light tower. The police booth sat, until very recently, in the north-east corner of the oval. A concrete cricket pitch served for local junior teams until the 1956/57 season, when it was replaced by a turf wicket.
In 1948 The Clarence Football Club, a tenant of the ground, applied to join the Tasmanian Football League, and the ground had to upgrade to TFL standards.
Some minor upgrades were made in the 1960s, clubrooms were built in 1961, and in 1963 a small grandstand (seating about 500) and a new PA system were installed.
...
Wikipedia