Brockton Oval is a playing area near the Brockton Point located on the north side of Coal Harbour in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The ground was established 1891 with 10 sport's groups joining together. In 1927, cricket and rugby fields were carved out.[1]
Before 1865, the point was utilised as a graveyard for early settlers who came to Vancouver. That year, Edward Stamp—a British businessman in the timber industry—cleared away part of the site in order to build a sawmill. However, he was forced to abandon his plans after realising the strong currents from the harbour impeded the construction of log booms.[3] He ended up moving the mill to Gastown,[3] becoming Hastings Mill.[4][5]
The land cleared by Stamp was converted into sports fields by 1891. One of these, Brockton Oval, became a key amateur sports venue and was mostly used for cricket.[5]Donald Bradman and Fred Trueman both played at the Oval,[6] and after Bradman's visit in 1932, he called the venue the most beautiful cricket ground in the world.[7]Geoffrey Boycott also played at the grounds in September 1964 and echoed Bradman's sentiments and praise of the Oval.[8]
Most recently the ground hosted two matches in July 2012 when MCC visited Canada. They played against British Columbia Mainland League and British Columbia Cricket Association President's XI in Cliff Cox's Memorial Game.