North Marine Road is a cricket ground hemmed in on two sides by the back walls of Victorian seaside guesthouses, five minutes’ walk from the North Sea. It opened in 1863, Yorkshire County Cricket Club has played County Championship matches here since 1896, and every September it hosts the Scarborough Festival — an end-of-season series that has run since 1876 and is the longest-standing fixture of its kind in English cricket. The ground ranks thirteenth on our list of the oldest stadiums in the world still in use.
It is an outground, meaning Yorkshire’s home is really Headingley in Leeds and Scarborough gets a handful of fixtures a season. But those fixtures draw crowds that most county grounds cannot match, because the Festival is a holiday event as much as a cricket one.
Key Stats
| Opened | 1863 |
| Location | North Marine Road, Scarborough, North Yorkshire, England |
| Capacity | 9,000 |
| Tenants | Scarborough Cricket Club (since 1863); Yorkshire County Cricket Club (since 1896) |
| Sport | Cricket |
| Record attendance | 22,946 (Yorkshire v Derbyshire, 1947) |
| Scarborough Festival | Held annually since 1876 |
The Scarborough Festival
The Festival began in 1876 and has been the ground’s defining event ever since. The format has changed repeatedly but the idea has not: at the end of the county season, Yorkshire play a series of matches at the seaside against touring international sides, other counties, and invitation elevens raised by well-known figures. Teams named after H. D. G. Leveson-Gower, Tom Pearce, Brian Close and Michael Parkinson have all taken the field here, as have World XIs and the Gentlemen and Players sides of the amateur era.
For 25 years the Festival also carried a sponsored one-day tournament, the Fenner Trophy, which ran from 1971 to 1996. The Festival’s pull was strongest in the years just after the Second World War: the ground’s record crowd of 22,946 came in 1947 for a Yorkshire match against Derbyshire, more than double what the ground is licensed to hold today.
Built in Pieces
North Marine Road was assembled gradually rather than designed, which is why it looks the way it does. The pavilion went up in 1895 at a cost of £2,150. A seating enclosure was added in 1902 and extended through to 1907. The concrete stand followed in 1926 for £6,700, and the West Stand in 1956 for £16,000. Modern additions have been modest by county-ground standards: the Jack Knowles Building in 1995 (£210,000) and all-weather nets with a press box in 1997 (£50,000).
The result is a ground where almost every stand comes from a different decade, and where the boundary is defined by terraced housing rather than by car parks or corporate boxes.
International Cricket at the Seaside
Scarborough’s spell as a men’s international venue was short. It staged its first men’s One Day International on 26 August 1976, England against the West Indies, and its last on 15 July 1978, England against New Zealand — two matches in total before the international calendar consolidated around larger grounds.
Women’s cricket has had a longer relationship with the ground. A women’s Test was played here from 16 to 19 June 1951, and the ground staged its first women’s One Day International on 12 July 1998.
FAQ
When did North Marine Road Ground open?
1863, as the home of Scarborough Cricket Club. Yorkshire County Cricket Club began using it for County Championship fixtures in 1896.
What is the Scarborough Festival?
An end-of-season series of cricket matches held at the ground every year since 1876, featuring Yorkshire against touring sides, other counties and invitation elevens. It is the longest-running event of its kind in English cricket.
How many people does the ground hold?
Around 9,000 today. The all-time record is 22,946, set in 1947 when a far larger share of the ground was standing room.
Photo: David Pickersgill via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)