I’ve been to all 18 first-class county cricket grounds in the UK… this is the definitive list from worst to best and where YOUR club ranks, writes LAWRENCE BOOTH

There are 18 first-class county headquarters in Britain, and Mail Sport’s Lawrence Booth has been to them all – many times over. 

Here, he ranks them in order of personal preference, starting from the bottom up.

18th: Grace Road, Leicestershire

Few grounds in England get a worse press, and it’s true that the Meet – the shed-like edifice where you can marvel at Joey, the stuffed fox bearing an equally dead chicken in its mouth – hasn’t always lifted the spirits. 

Grace Road is surprisingly vast: the playing area is said to be the second-biggest in the world, behind the MCG. And the history is better than many realise: Leicestershire have won three championship titles, more than five other teams. And for a while, when the club won three T20 competitions, the atmosphere was rocking. 

It just hasn’t happened very often when I’ve been there…

17th: Derby, Derbyshire

Tucked in beside a busy roundabout and the A61, Derbyshire’s main home may lack the charm of Chesterfield – where the club still stage an annual festival – but it retains a down-to-earth character of its own. We all remember our first time, and mine – as a county reporter – came here in 2001. It was the day after 9/11, which meant Derbyshire v Warwickshire in late September felt even less significant than usual. My report was 120 words: the same length as this paragraph, and 14 more than the home side managed in their first innings, thanks to a career-best six for 50 from Sky Sports’ Charlie Dagnall. Back then, dogs were allowed to be members, though even they stayed away that day.

16th: Headingley, Yorkshire

England’s most successful county does not, let’s be honest, have its most attractive HQ, though you might not say that to a Yorkshireman’s face. 

The word ‘Headingley’, it’s true, conjures up Ashes derring-do: Ian Botham and Bob Willis in 1981, Ben Stokes in 2019. And the history, from Rhodes to Root via Hutton and Boycott, is almost tangible. But the ground has an austereness that inspires reverence rather than love: fancy-dress day in the West Stand doesn’t change that, no matter how many times you see Borat chasing the Smurfs.

15th Nevil Road, Gloucestershire

Few county grounds face more speculation about their impending demise than Nevil Road, deep in Bristol’s Ashley Down territory – once home to WG Grace, Gloucestershire’s most famous son. 

The desire for a bigger home is understandable, but it would be a shame: situated amid residential property, and with the relatively recent Hammond Apartments overlooking the ground, it feels part of the local hubbub. It’s just a shame Bristol always seems to get international fixtures in September, when it inevitably rains. 

Best game I’ve seen here? The women’s World Cup semi-final in 2017, when England pipped South Africa by two wickets.

14th: Old Trafford, Lancashire

There are some who swear that the real Old Trafford (which predates its footballing cousin down the road by over half a century) is not what it was since the addition of the giant red Point and the Hilton hotel. But the pavilion is a friendlier place than it was in the days when it was known as the Pit of Hate, and the giant party stand is among the most impressive – and precarious-looking – constructions in English cricket. 

Old Trafford can still look a bit desolate on a windy day, and some fans haven’t forgiven the Manchester weather for costing England the 2023 Ashes. But has there been a more thrumming occasion than the last day of the 2005 Test, when thousands of spectators were turned away at the gates for a game that finished with Australia’s last pair hanging on?

13th: Chelmsford, Essex

In an age when the anonymous and the out-of-town are sometimes preferred to the intimate and the local, Chelmsford bucks the trend. It’s a 10-minute stroll from the railway station, just the other side of the River Can from Central Park – and a trip there on the first day of the season was a reminder of its place in the community. 

Anne’s Pantry does tasty, reasonably priced food, and the nooks and crannies just about allow a lap of the ground if you want to stretch your legs. 

Chelmsford may be a bit boozy at Friday-night T20 games for some tastes, but there are few more serious four-day teams in the country. And, heavens above, the pitch sometimes turns, allowing two spinners in a balanced attack.

12th Edgbaston, Warwickshire

Situated in a suburb usually described as ‘leafy’, Edgbaston still requires an unattractive walk if you reach Birmingham by train. 

The ground itself is now a serious stadium, and a further £42m redevelopment, incorporating a hotel, is planned in time for the 2027 Ashes. The press-box food briefly rivalled Lord’s, but has declined a touch; the view of the Birmingham skyline is impressive; and there is no more raucous atmosphere than the one generated by the Hollies Stand on a Test-match Saturday. 

I’ll never report on a better game than the 2005 Ashes Test here, when England won by two runs to set up the greatest series of all time.

11th: Taunton, Somerset

Like Chelmsford, Taunton sits at the heart of its community, a 10-minute amble from the railway station and set back from the River Tone, with the Quantock hills adding to a bucolic vista. To complete the sheer Englishness of it all, the St James churchyard lies just beyond the boundary. You never feel rushed. 

Taunton’s alumni include Viv Richards and Ian Botham, though Arthur Wellard – either side of the Second World War – hit more sixes in the championship than both. 

In fact, it’s always been decent for batting: of the 11 first-class quadruple-hundreds, two were made here, by Archie MacLaren in 1895 and Graeme Hick in 1988; more recently, Tom Banton nearly made it three. Only Karachi and Melbourne can boast as many.

10th: Rose Bowl, Hampshire

Getting here remains a challenge: the approach from the M27 seems to throw up more roundabouts than Milton Keynes. But the ground itself, financed at the turn of the century by Rod Bransgrove, hasn’t always earned the praise it merits – an injustice considering it helped keep English Test cricket afloat during the pandemic. 

A civilised 360-degree walkway offers plenty of catering options, while the views back towards the South Downs from the top of the Shane Warne Stand are spectacular. 

The on-site Hilton Hotel has its priorities right too. When Manchester City were staying for a game against Southampton, staff refused to turf Hampshire’s Pakistan seamer Mohammad Abbas out of his suite to make way for some bloke called Pep Guardiola. Apparently, Hampshire’s head of cricket operations was an Arsenal fan, and said: ‘No chance.’

9th: Cardiff, Glamorgan

If we were ranking clubs by the quality of the stroll to the ground, Sophia Gardens would be on the podium. The walk from the station takes you past Cardiff Arms Park and the Castle grounds, into beautiful Bute Park, and out along the Taff – the river most guaranteed to be mentioned in match reports because of the short straight boundary: many a six has ended up wet.

The Grandstand is one of the liveliest spots in British cricket, never more so than when Jimmy Anderson and Monty Panesar were taking England to a nailbiting draw at the start of the 2009 Ashes – with the help of some world-class time-wasting from 12th man Bilal Shafayat.

8th: Canterbury, Kent

Full marks to the St Lawrence for embracing its history: stands are named after Frank Woolley, Les Ames, Alan Knott and Derek Underwood, and there’s also the Cowdrey conference centre. The slope is even more pronounced than the 8ft tiddler at Lord’s. 

Gone are the days when EW Swanton, the grand old man of English cricket writing, gave the place a semi-religious feel, though the city’s stunning cathedral does its best. 

One trip here coincided with my most circuitous route back to London. Sprinting to Canterbury East station one evening as the train pulled in, I congratulated myself on making it in time, and settled down to read a book. The next time I looked up, I was in Dover, having boarded on the wrong side of the tracks…

7th: Chester-le-Street, Durham

Perceptions can be coloured by the accommodation options: historic Durham and raucous Newcastle both score highly if you’re planning a trip to Chester-le-Street. 

Then there’s Lumley Castle, county cricket’s second-best backdrop, where in 2005 Australian all-rounder Shane Watson was so spooked by rumours it was haunted that he spent the night on Brett Lee’s floor. 

The ground itself is compact and hospitable, and staged one of the most unjustly forgotten days in England’s history: defending 299 to clinch the 2013 Ashes, they dismissed Australia for 224, with Jimmy Anderson holding the winning catch off Stuart Broad. 

Thanks to the ECB’s shoddy treatment of Durham, the Riverside has hosted only one Test since. A county that keeps producing England fast bowlers deserves better.

6th: Wantage Road, Northamptonshire

Full disclosure: I’m biased. Northamptonshire have been my county, through thin and thinner, since the late 1980s, since when the old place has smartened up a bit – even if the red-bricked terraced housing that surrounds Wantage Road once persuaded Doug Ibbotson of the Daily Telegraph to declare it ‘like Coronation Street with grass’. 

The cricketers no longer share facilities with Northampton Town FC, and the newish indoor school is state of the art. The locals, it’s true, love a grumble, and they get plenty of opportunity. But we’ll always have the NatWest quarter-final in 1991 – my first game there in the flesh, when the entire Glamorgan middle order of Adrian Dale, Matthew Maynard and Ravi Shastri were run out. Happy days.

5th: New Road, Worcestershire

Worcester cathedral, burial place of King John, provides the most attractive backdrop in the county game, but for how much longer? 

With the Severn regularly bursting its banks, New Road spends as much of the winter submerged as it does dry, and club officials have accepted Worcestershire will need a new home. What a pity, even for a ground that has lost a little of its elegance in recent years because of other developments. 

Still, no venue does tea-time cake like the Ladies’ Pavilion, and the understated hum is perfect for a post-prandial snooze. We’ll miss it when it’s gone.

4th: Lord’s, Middlesex

Not bad. Sunil Gavaskar thought the slope incongruous for a place so ‘revered’, but you’d have to be a sourpuss to find too much wrong with Lord’s (and the food remains the best on the circuit, which matters when you’re a cricket journalist). 

In terms of memories, it’s hard to look beyond the 2019 World Cup final, though there was a magical afternoon in 2011, when Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar batted against Jimmy Anderson, Stuart Broad and Chris Tremlett, the sun out, and the ground abuzz. It felt heavenly, in a way that only Lord’s can feel.

3rd: The Oval, Surrey

Just as Lord’s could not possibly be in south London, so The Oval would never be at home north of the river. 

It’s more democratic, less self-conscious: you’re unlikely to be scolded by a steward, or bump into a middle-aged man wearing red trousers. And, unlike Lord’s, it as as proud of its county history as it is of its Tests: Surrey’s 22 championship titles (bettered only by Yorkshire) are celebrated in detail on the perimeter wall. 

The views from the OCS Stand are superb, even if the old gasholder is now being turned into luxury apartments. And for those of us who were lucky enough to be there, we’ll always have Kevin Pietersen’s Ashes-clinching 158 in 2005.

2nd: Trent Bridge, Nottinghamshire

There’s something bracing about a stroll across the Trent from the centre of Nottingham. Modernisation has not disturbed the ground’s old-time tranquility, and the pavilion – where Shane Warne wiggled with a stump in 1997 – is still among the loveliest in the country. 

You feel close to the action too, and the press box is so low down that green-jacketed stewards repeatedly warn journalists to stay seated if the bowling is from our end. 

I’ve seen few better Tests than England’s 14-run win over Australia in 2013, when Stuart Broad refused to walk for a thick edge (and Brad Haddin refused to walk for the thin edge that finished the game). But it’s the effortless charm that defines Trent Bridge. As Michael Henderson once wrote: ‘If you cannot respond to its unforced beauty, perhaps you ought to check your pulse.’

1st: Hove, Sussex

When the sun is out, as it was on Friday for the visit of Somerset, there is no place like Hove. Pick up a coffee at Brighton station, wander along the sea front, immerse yourself in a world of seagulls, deckchairs and ice creams, and enjoy a post-stumps beer on the beach. 

The slope and, on murkier days, the sea fret add to the local colour. The flats overlooking the ground have ‘retirement bolthole’ written all over them. Only a 24-carat curmudgeon could fail to enjoy watching cricket here.