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Hagley Oval,   either way, with former post   ground has seen South Africa   cricket, with one of the most popular
                                                                     activities being a spectacular cable
 offices and movie houses just  have the edge over visiting
 Christchurch  some of the buildings being   teams. Stadium/history tours   car ride around Table Mountain.
                                                                     For a somewhat political flavour,
 converted to host funky new
 are on offer for cricket fans
 Just across the ditch on   cafes serving some of the   who want to see more than   visitors are also encouraged to visit
                                                                     the Robben Island Museum, an
 the South Island of New   best coffee you will ever sip.   just their favourite players do   impressive examination of the island
 Zealand is the impressive   Other major tourist draws   battle, with guides leading   that housed former South African
 spiritual home of cricket in   here include cable cart trips   visitors through the ground’s   President Nelson Mandela as an
 the Canterbury region. Hagley   into the scenic mountain   embankments, referred to by   inmate for 18 of his 27-year sentence,
 Oval is a small and quaint   areas to take the full view   locals as the Snake Pit and   his tough punishment for seeking to
 place to watch a session   in, amazing Botanic Garden   the Oaks, as well as inside   overthrow racist apartheid policies.
 or two of test cricket, with   strolls, and a range of quality  looks at the dressing rooms,
 the first ball ever bowled   wine tours.  practice nets and, of course,
 at the ground dating back   a tour of the hallowed pitch            Lord’s Cricket
 to 1867. Pleasingly for   Newlands   itself. For travellers to Cape   Ground, London
 cricket fans in the area, the   Town there is also a plethora
 ground’s significance and   Cricket   of attractions to check         Often referred to as the home of
 reputation in world cricket   Ground,   out between the days of     cricket itself, Lord’s is an absolute
 has only increased over                                             must to check out for any cricket fan.
 time – especially in the last   Capetown
 10 years - where important                                          Owned by the Marylebone Cricket
                                                                     Club and home to the Middlesex
 internationals have started   Many cricket fans argue               Country Cricket Club, it really doesn’t
 to be staged at Hagley. It’s   that Newlands in South Africa        get any more English than watching
 obvious why players relish   is the most beautiful ground           a match and nursing a lager at this
 playing here, with its old-  in the world, and it’s tough
 world pavilions and stands   to argue with these staunch            ground. Modern meets old is the
                                                                     current theme of the day, with old
 blending like poetry with the   opinions when you have both         and renovated stands co-existing
 serene and leafy surrounds   Table Mountain and Devil’s             with the futuristic and Martian-like
 of Christchurch. The city itself   Peak as your enveloping          Media Centre which now dominates
 is fast earning itself a global   backdrop. The ground was
 tourist reputation for its   established way back in 1888           the landscape. But there is far more
                                                                     than batting and bowling on offer for
 premium café and restaurant   when England gave the locals          tourists here, with the oldest sporting
 culture, a strong incentive   a spanking by an innings and          museum in the world gifting fans a
 for travellers to drop by   change, but since then the              first-hand look at the largest collection
                                                                     of cricket memorabilia in the world.
 Clockwise                                                           The MCC Museum has been collecting
 from top:                                                           artefacts of the sport since 1864 and
 Hagley Oval,                                                        welcomes around 50,000 visitors a
 Christchurch                                                        year. And it wouldn’t be a true English

 A cricketer                                                         stadium without a picturesque garden
 smashes it                                                          or two, with the Harris Garden and the
 out of the                                                          Coronation Garden providing a restful
 park
                                                                     scene of weeping ash trees dotted
 A gloomy                                                            around bronze statues of some of the
 day at Lord's
 Cricket                                                             game’s greatest ever players.  While in
 Ground                                                              England’s capital, why not carve out
                                                                     some time to grab a classic pub meal
                                                                     before taking it all in high above the
                                                                     ground on The London Eye
                                                                     Millennium Wheel.





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