The Oval began as a cabbage patch and hosted the first FA Cup final
In 1844 the land that became the Oval was a market garden growing cabbages for the Duchy of Cornwall. Within four decades it had staged England's first home Test match, the first FA Cup final and an early England versus Scotland football match. The south London ground still closes each English cricket season.
Cricket in Kennington predates the ground. Matches were played on Kennington Common from the early 18th century, the earliest recorded in June 1724, but the common also served as south London's place of public execution, and the game had drifted elsewhere by the 1740s. In March 1845 the Duchy's trustees leased the market garden to be turned into a subscription cricket ground, and it has been home to Surrey ever since.
Its firsts pile up. In 1868 about 20,000 people watched the opening game of the Aboriginal cricket tour, the first visit to England by any overseas side. Thanks to Surrey secretary C.W. Alcock, England met Australia there in September 1880, making the Oval only the second Test venue after Melbourne. Beyond cricket it hosted the first FA Cup final in 1872, rugby internationals and, reportedly, the first artificial lighting at a sports venue, gas lamps installed in 1889. During the Second World War it was fitted out as a camp for captured enemy parachutists who never arrived.
Some records are remarkable. England's 903 for 7 declared against Australia in August 1938 remains the ground's highest Test total. In August 2006 it saw the first forfeited Test, when Pakistan refused to take the field after being penalised for ball tampering. In 2017 it staged its hundredth Test, and Moeen Ali took the first Test hat-trick there to beat South Africa.
The ground keeps rebuilding. The Vauxhall End got a four-tier stand in 2005, a stand named after former England captain Peter May opened in 2016, and a three-tier development completed in 2021 lifted capacity to 27,500. The old gasholders beside it, built around 1853, have survived because many consider them part of the view, and the billionaire Paul Getty, once Surrey's president, even built a replica of the Oval on his country estate.
Source: The Oval
