Location Maidstone, Kent Capacity 8,500 | Establishment 1857 | |
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Mote Park is a cricket ground in Maidstone in the English county of Kent. It is inside the grounds of the Mote Park and is owned by The Mote Cricket Club and is also used by the Mote Squash Club and Maidstone RFC. Until 2005, it was used annually by Kent County Cricket Club as one of their out grounds. The County club played over 200 first-class matches on the ground, with the first match played in 1859 against MCC.
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History
The first Kent match at The Mote was in 1859, two years after the founding of The Mote Cricket Club. However, visits by Kent to The Mote were limited until the intervention of Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1908, Viscount Bearsted oversaw the levelling of the original playing area to form the middle of three terraces (the upper and lower levels became rugby pitches) and the wicket was moved to its current position, perpendicular to the original orientation.
In 1910, two permanent buildings were opened: the pavilion, which contains the players' dressing rooms and covered seating and the Tabernacle, originally the private pavilion of Viscount Bearsted and used for spectating and entertaining in luxury. More recently the structure was used as a committee room for both the Mote and Kent County Cricket Clubs. Apart from some restoration work, the ground otherwise still resembles the facility constructed in the early 20th century.
The ground continued to be used by the county side for an annual cricket week until the end of the 2005 season. After 140 consecutive years of play, Mote Park was taken off the list of county grounds used by Kent when an over-watered 'green' wicket, prepared for the County Championship match against Gloucestershire, led to a low scoring game which ended after less than 2 days and a subsequent 8 point points deduction for Kent. Redevelopment of the facilities at the ground had been approved during 2005 as part of a larger scheme to increase the profile of cricket in the county town.
Since 2005 The Mote Cricket Club have relaid a number of wickets at a cost of £14,000 with the help of grants and technical assistance from the County Cricket Club and Maidstone Borough Council. Kent have expressed a wish to return to the ground at some point, although as of April 2016 the quality of the wicket and the pavilion were still seen as issues that needed to be addressed.