Riverside Ground

The ground in Chester-le-Street sits on a slope that gives the North-East Terrace its uneasy character. That section fell apart after the opener against the West Indians, leaving three people on the grass while the rest of the crowd watched the ball go out of play. The collapse did not change the shape of the stadium, but it changed the way people talk about it.

Durham County Cricket Club moved here from their old patch when they earned first-class status. The club had the game won inside twenty minutes of their first home match, which helped them keep the new ground going through the lean years. The Northern Diamonds women's team plays here too, which means the place fills up on weekends even when the men are not at home.

The view from the stands looks out over County Durham rather than into the city. There are no rivers running through the site or ancient walls holding up the terraces. It is a modern build that opened in 1995, designed to hold international matches when England needed somewhere north of Birmingham. The temporary seating can push the capacity to 17,000 for those rare occasions when the world comes to watch cricket here.

The pitch is natural grass, and the drainage system works better than most grounds in the north. The wind does not get caught between buildings the way it does in Belfast or Cardiff, which helps the bowlers keep their rhythm. The club changed the name again this year, which is routine, but the ground itself has not changed much since the rebuild after the terrace incident.

The only thing that makes this place different from the identical one down the road is that it sits further north. The rest of it is standard cricket infrastructure, and that is enough for the matches they host.