The Riverside Durham

The Riverside Ground, officially referred to as the Emirates Riverside for sponsorship reasons, is a cricket venue in Chester-le-Street, County Durham, England. It is home to Durham County Cricket Club, and has also hosted several international matches.

HISTORY
Durham’s acceptance into first-class cricket in 1991 was made conditional on the building of a new Test match-standard cricket ground.Work began on the new ground at the Riverside in a location overlooked by Lumley Castle in 1990, with development continuing in phases. Work on the outfield and playing surface began in 1993. In its first three seasons in the County Championship, the Club played in a variety of locations around the county, but the Riverside ground was pronounced ready for cricket in time for the 1995 season, even though many of the buildings were still temporary or unfinished. The ground hosted its first game, Durham vs. Warwickshire, on 18 May 1995.

Other facilities at the ground continued being built over subsequent years, and the club’s Don Robson Pavilion was opened by Queen Elizabeth II in 1996. The full ground capacity, including permanent and temporary seating, is 17,000.

One of the entrances to the Don Robson Pavilion.
In September 2008 plans were announced concerning further developments to the ground.These included installing permanent floodlights, and extending the County Durham stand so that permanent seating surrounds the entire ground, raising the ground capacity to around 20,000. A new entrance building was also planned to house the box office and club shop, as well as offices for club officials, a new perimeter road and a hotel. These developments were seen as a necessity, as the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) have specified that they must take place in order for the ground to secure its status as a venue for the 2019 Cricket World Cup.

In April 2015, planning permission was granted to erect six permanent 55-metre floodlights around the ground.Within weeks, the lights were in action as Durham Jets hosted the Yorkshire Vikings in a T20 Blast match.

On 16 September 2017, during the Riverside Ground’s hosting of England’s Twenty20 International match against the West Indies, a stand in the North-East Terrace partially collapsed. Three spectators were injured, and part of the stand was evacuated.