Lincoln Green (New Zealand)

Hey, so I'm here at Lincoln Green, and it's pretty cool to think about all the cricket history that's happened on this very spot. It’s right next to the Bert Sutcliffe Oval, and it’s actually part of the New Zealand Cricket Academy.

Apparently, the first recorded match here was a women's game back in February 1997, with the New Zealand Women's team playing New Zealand A Women. Later that same year, it hosted its first first-class match. The New Zealand Academy team played Bangladesh, and get this, the academy actually won by an innings and 115 runs against a team that hadn't even gained Test status yet! Then, in the following year, the academy played Pakistan A here.

There were a couple more first-class matches in 1998/99 during the Shell Conference, with the Southern Conference playing both the Central and Northern Conferences. The last first-class match mentioned was in 1999 when New Zealand A played the touring South Africans.

Beyond that, this ground was also a big deal for women's cricket, hosting nine Women's One Day Internationals during the 2000 Women's World Cup. And then two years later, it saw six Youth One Day Internationals for the 2002 Under-19 World Cup. Lots of cricket history right here!