Location Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey Establishment 1944 (first recorded match) | ||
Hawker's Sports Ground (now known as the Hawker Centre) was built and owned by the Hawker Aircraft company who had factories in Kingston-upon-Thames. The ground was known prior to 1948 as the Leyland Motors Ground, due to Hawker leasing their factory to Leyland Motors, a lease which expired in 1948. The aircraft factory was demolished in 1990 which alongside storage units were converted into a residential area keeping the sports ground. Since 2001 the ground has been maintained by the YMCA London South West under a lease by the Borough.
Cricket at the Hawker Sports Ground The first recorded match on the ground was in 1944, when Leyland Athletic played London Counties. The ground hosted its first first-class match in 1946, when Surrey played Hampshire. These first matches were organised to help raise money to repair the damage done to The Oval in the Second World War. A venue for first-class cricket from 1946 to 1953, it hosted first-class cricket for no less than seven teams, with the final first-class match at the ground in 1953 seeing an England XI play a Commonwealth XI.