Research Suggests Eccentric Eden Park Fans’ Favourite Cricket Venue

Eden Park – home of Auckland cricket since 1910 – is the people’s choice as the most popular cricketing venue, new research suggests.

Data compiled by cricket tipping experts, Cricket Bet India, combined three key metrics – Instagram tags, Facebook check-ins and average global monthly web search volume – to rank the leading cricketing stadiums around the world in order of perceived popularity as a score out of 100.

Cricket has always been a fantastic spectator sport; the perfect excuse to spend long periods of time outdoors, and in good company. Mission critical to this is the venue; it is fundamental to the supporter’s experience, and while appreciating that one man’s heaven could be another man’s hell, Cricket Bet India’s Fans’ Favourite has removed all subjectivity and ranked grounds based on cold, hard facts.

In this case, it was New Zealand’s largest sporting venue – Eden Park, its peculiar structure the backdrop for some of the game’s most thrilling matches, that clinched top-billing with 66.96 out of 100.

The spotlight shone brightest on one of the sports oldest grounds when it staged an ICC Cricket World Cup semi-final, Grant Elliot hitting a match-winning six for New Zealand against South Africa in 2015. In keeping with its seemingly much-loved quirks, the particular seat it clattered into is now painted green, marking the host nation’s reaching of the tournament’s final for the first time.

Unique in the way it facilitates three sports; cricket, rugby and football, it has hosted Test cricket since 1929-30 – 150 fixtures across all three International formats of the 16th century bat-and-ball game.

In recent years its viability as an international venue had been questioned, largely due to its pocket-sized, 45-metre, straight boundaries, but its ability to conjure a nail-biter, and the fact it is the only ICC-sanctioned venue in New Zealand’s most populous city (Auckland’s population is 1.657 million), means it remains a big hit with cricket-mad locals and the sport’s enthusiasts.

In total, New Zealand accounts for six of the top 93 grounds around the world, the Kiwi nation coming out on top with an average overall popularity score of 12.09. 

England claim second spot with double the number of sporting stadia, recording a score of 9.94, just pipping Australia (18 locations) by 0.29. India’s 31 cricketing venues register an eye-brow-raising score of 2.31 points, 0.45 ahead of South Asian neighbours Pakistan.

Cricket is so beloved Down Under, in Australia, that it is a national sport. The nation’s top representative in our rankings is the South Australian icon – the Adelaide Oval – a stunning venue with a score of 50.93 out of 100, with over 100,000 Instagram tags and just short of a million Facebook check-ins.

Easily accessible and located in parkland between the city centre and North Adelaide, the venue is quite literally steeped in cricketing history. The iconic stadium, one of the most picturesque grounds in the world, hosts AFL, cricket, concerts, functions and more. Lined by Moreton Bay fig trees, it’s tasteful 2014 makeover, coupled with the retention of its heritage wooden scoreboard from 1911, and the countless memorable moments accrued along the way – Sir Donald Bradman’s 299 not out against South Africa in 1931 – helps it tick plenty of boxes.

The Melbourne Cricket Ground is hot on its heels, with a score of 42.24. The venue of the first ever Test match, played between March 15-19 in 1877. Up until recently this iconic venue was the biggest cricket ground in the world with a 100,024 capacity. It’s renowned for its hosting of Boxing Day Test matches, the biggest of those an Ashes encounter, with few fixtures evoking as much passion as an England vs Australia encounter.

Motera Stadium, recently renamed the Narendra Modi Stadium – after India’s Prime Minister decided to name the rebuilt, 110,000 capacity stadium after him just hours before last month’s third Test between India and England – lands at number 22, yet to build a reputation befitting its physical stature.

There are four Australian venues in the top 10 of Cricket Bet India’s Fans’ Favourite, the A$460 million Docklands Stadium, built in 2000, one of only three in that bracket constructed in the 20th century; the others being the aforementioned Eden Park in 1900 and The Rose Bowl, Southampton, 1923.

Old Trafford, Manchester, claims fourth spot, with the London duo of the Kia Oval (nine) and Lord’s (10) sneaking into the top 10, the latter known at the Home of Cricket, edging out the likes of Sydney Cricket Ground, Perth Stadium and Wankhede Stadium by a margin of 2.16 points.

Kolkata’s Eden Gardens is India’s most popular cricket venue, the 42 Test, 68,000 stadium, finishing up ahead of 13th placed Wankhede, built in 1975, and Bengaluru’s M. Chinnaswamy Stadium, which has busily staged 23 Tests, 26 ODIs and 7 T20s since opening in 2008.

Eden Gardens, known as the Mecca of Indian cricket, is famed for its deafening cheers and, along with the MCG, is supposedly cricket’s answer to the Coliseum. Despite its famous reputation, and the fact it hosted its first Test way back in 1934, it only qualifies for sixth in our popularity rankings.