Patrick Comerford
Patrick Comerford
I had planned to join clergy colleagues in the Milton Keynes area on a mid-week walk last week, beginning at the Cricket Pavilion and continuing around Campbell Park or down to the coffee shop at Willen Lake.
But it was mid-term break for most parents with children at school. So, instead, the two of us who turned up took a short walk through the park that took us as far as Campbell Wharf Marina.
After strolling around the wharf, the boats and the canal banks, I made my way back to the cricket pavilion and the cricket ground in Campbell Park. This is a meticulously maintained ground known for its first-class standard cricket pitch. It hosts a diverse range of matches, including local, county, youth, business, and exhibition matches.
There is a thriving cricket following in Milton Keynes and Campbell Park hosts many matches from April to September. In local domestic cricket, Campbell Park has been used by Stony Stratford Cricket Club for its Premier Division and Division 2 fixtures in the Northamptonshire Cricket League and as the venue for all 3rd XI and 4th XI games.
Campbell Park has also been the home venue for the Northamptonshire Cricket Academy play in the Northamptonshire Cricket League, and Bucks Cricket use Campbell Park for the training of many of their youth teams.
Campbell Park hosted its first match in 1981, when the Northamptonshire Second XI played the Leicestershire Second XI in the Second Eleven Championship. The first List-A match on the ground was in 1997 when Northamptonshire played Nottinghamshire in the AXA Life League. Two years later, the ground was the venue in 1999 for a List-A match between New Zealand A and Sri Lanka A.
Campbell Park hosted a single first-class match between a First-Class Counties Select XI and New Zealand in 2000. Northamptonshire played Hampshire there in 2004 in the Totesport League. The ground hosted its first Twenty20 match in 2005 when Northamptonshire played Gloucestershire in the Twenty20 Cup. From 2005 to 2008, the ground was the venue for four Twenty20 Cup matches, the last in 2008 when Northamptonshire played Warwickshire.
Buckinghamshire used the ground from 1998 to 2000, for Minor Counties matches, playing two Minor Counties Championship matches against Staffordshire and Suffolk and one MCCA Knockout Trophy match against the Sussex Cricket Board.
Campbell Park has held two Women’s One Day Internationals. The first was between England women and South Africa women in 1997, and the other between Ireland women and India women in 1999.
With the return of the cricket season in the warmer months, enthusiasts can look forward to an exciting line-up of fixtures. Most matches are free to watch, with seating on the grass terraces beside the pitch. Clubs, organisations and businesses are encouraged to bring their matches to the ground.
I am looking forward to the 2025 season which is about to begin. In previous summers, I have enjoyed some weekend games played by Stony Stratford Cricket Club at the Ancell Trust Sports Grounds on Ostlers Lane. Stony Stratford is back in the NCL Premier Division, and the Men’s First XI plays Old Northamptonians CC at Raunds Town Cricket Club on Saturday 26 April, while the Second XI plays Brixworth Second XI at Ostlers Lane.
Now, with the return of the cricket season, I must also look out for the line-up of fixtures in both Ostlers Lane and Campbell Park.
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