Bringing history back to life

The pitch used for the first Ashes tour on English soil has been returned for sporting use after 70 years as a farmer's field.

In the year 1884 it hosted a warm-up match between the first Australian touring side for the Ashes, and an English side captained by WG Grace.

“The Telegraph” has reported that veteran international cricketers stepped onto the wicket at Sheffield Park near Uckfield in East Sussex to play a match more than a century after a game was first played there.

Henry Holroyd, the Third Earl of Sheffield, a keen cricket supporter had been the creator of the pitch. In his days, more than 25,000 people came to enjoy first-class matches which often featured WG Grace, a friend of Lord Sheffield.

It's more than just a game

Cricket was never just played as a game. There was a grand pomp and show involved with it. According to one historian there used to be "a fanfare of fireworks and hundreds of fairy lights which illuminated the glorious parks, water and pavilions, swathed in silks and fauna".

The Sheffield Shield, an interstate competition that continues till date was conceptualised by Lord Sheffield who invested £150 to fund it. But his demise led to its sale in 1909. The pitch was dug up during the First World War and turned over to wheat. It became a cricket pitch again between 1918 and 1939 and thereafter was converted into a military base for the Canadian armoured division during the Second World War.

The National Trust took charge of the ground but not before tress had been planted on it. However, the Trust started using it as a field again and allowed the Armadillos to restore the pitch.

The stars of old

Former internationals including Australians Dean Jones and Rodney Hogg, and Englishmen John Snow, John Lever and Martin Bicknell descended on the pitch last Sunday in a match between the traditional rivals – Lord Sheffield's Australian XI and Old England XI.

53 year oldAnthony Scott-Gal, president of Armadillos Cricket Club, was clearly overwhelmed: "It means an awful amount to bring it back to life."