The St Lawrence Ground is a cricket ground in Canterbury, Kent and is the home of Kent County Cricket Club. It is one of the oldest grounds on which first-class cricket is played, having been in use since 1847. It is also notable as one of the two grounds used regularly for first-class cricket that have a tree within the boundary (the other is Pietermaritzburg Oval in South Africa).

Capacity at the ground was increased to 15,000 in 2000, and four One Day International matches have been played there, one each in 1999 (part of the 1999 Cricket World Cup), 2000, 2003 and 2005. There are hopes that the English cricket team may play Test matches at the St Lawrence Ground at some point in the future.

Cricket grounds in most parts of the world are devoid of any trees or shrubs. The lime tree at the St Lawrence Ground was an exception: the ground opened as the Beverley ground in 1847, and was built around the tree.

The presence of a tree within the playing area required special local rules. Shots blocked by the tree were counted as a four. Only four cricketers have cleared the tree to score a six: Arthur 'Jacko' Watson of Sussex in 1925, the West Indies' Learie Constantine (1928), Carl Hooper (1992) and Middlesex's Jim Smith (1939).

The tree was diagnosed with heartwood fungus in the 1990s, and it was pollarded to encourage new growth, reducing it from over 120 feet to around 90 feet in height. Finally, high winds in England on 7 January, 2005 caused the 200 year-old tree snap in two, leaving a 7-foot stump. Wood from the dead tree will be made into mementos that will be sold to supporters.

A new lime tree was planted outside of the playing area in 1999 by EW Swanton, in preparation for the ultimate demise of its predecessor. The club moved it within the playing area on 8 March 2005, although it was still less than 6 feet high.

The St Lawrence Ground during 2008

Ground Development

The Club announced in late 2006 that it would redevelop the ground.

The proposed £9 million face lift includes a hotel, health and fitness centre, and conference facilities.

The pavilion will be developed to make it more user friendly.

Money for the project will be raised by the building of two housing estates on the nets behind the pavilion and on the car park of the local pub, the Bat and Ball.

External links

• Ground page at Cricinfo
• Cricket club reveal new lime tree (BBC, 8 March 2005)
• Cricket club plans tree planting (BBC, 25 January 2005)
• Dead cricket tree to be replaced (BBC, 14 January 2005)
• End of innings for cricket tree (BBC, 10 January 2005)
• When the tree fell in 2005 most of the reports mentioned only Constantine, Smith and Hooper. But Frank Keating's article in the Guardian mentions that Jacko Watson was the first.