09-Jan-2006
The Tunbridge Wells Cricket, Football and Athletic club (which
can trace its origins back to 1762) purchased the land on which
the ground stands in 1895, on a 99-year lease from the Eridge
Park estate of the Marquis of Abergavenny. The ground name is
derived from the same source; Nevill being the Marquis' family
name.
The TWCFA were joined in the year of acquisition by the
newly-formed Bluemantles Cricket Club, and building commenced in
1896. The completed ground was opened by the Marquis of
Abergavenny in 1898, but little of the original architecture
remains today. Most notably, the original pavilion was burnt
down in 1913 during a protest by the suffragettes. The current
structure, a near-identical replica of the original, dates from
this period and bears a small scoreboard.
Soccer ceased to be played at the ground in 1903. The ground has
also been used for hockey, archery, athletics and cycle racing.
Most notably, the tennis courts that punctuate the area around
the cricket field were used in the past to host a tournament of
some repute.
During the First World War, the playing area was used by the
cavalry as a picketing area for horses. This necessitated much
repair work to restore the playing area to a useable state.
The freehold of the ground was acquired by Tunbridge Wells
Borough Council in 1946, the lease having passed into their hands
a year beforehand. The future of first class cricket at the
ground appears to be safe for the immediate future.
One structure of note share the ground with the pavilion. The
Bluemantles stand is situated to the right of the pavilion when
standing facing that building from the wicket. It was named
after the one of the cricket clubs that occupied the ground at
the time of its opening, replacing an earlier structure that had
become unsafe. Another stand occupies a position on the other
side of the pavilion, but this is currently an open scaffolding
structure.
Three major events of note have occurred in the cricketing
history of The Nevill Ground. In 1932, A.P. Freeman of Kent and
V.W.C. Jupp of Northamptonshire shared 28 wickets of the 30 to
fall in the match. Two bowlers from opposing sides, both spin
bowlers, sharing over 90% of the wickets to fall in a match is a
rare event, maybe even unique.
In the 1983 World Cup, the ground saw one of the most remarkable
matches in the history of limited overs cricket. The inaugural
one-day meeting between Zimbabwe (then not a Test-playing nation)
and India (the eventual winners of that tournament) saw Zimbabwe
heading for an historic win until the great Indian allrounder
Kapil Dev and wicketkeeper Syed Kirmani shared an unbroken ninth
wicket partnership of 126. This remains the highest 9th wicket
stand in all forms of limited-over international cricket to this
day. Kapil Dev's unbeaten 175 in that match was then the highest
score (currently the 4th highest) in the history of one-day
internationals. A lasting memory for what is likely to be this
small ground's only international cricket fixture.
More controversially, a random drugs test conducted on a Sussex
player during the Kent v Sussex fixture at the ground in 1996 led
to the first ban arising from a positive test in the history of
English cricket. This matter has been dealt with amply elsewhere
and will be dwelt upon no further.