NEWCLOSE COUNTY CRICKET GROUND FOR SALE

Buy your own cricket ground with first-class facilities!

An extremely rare opportunity to buy your own cricket ground with first-class facilities!

Newclose County Cricket Ground on the Isle of Wight is currently available to purchase. 

This stunning ground that is larger than Lord's and attracts world-class players throughout the season was the dream of Brian Gardener.  

Brian had a huge love of cricket and as a child he created the team “Wimpyonians”, after the building company that had built homes where he lived. His desire was to create a cricket ground that would draw the finest players in the world. This inspired him to create the Newclose County Cricket Ground out of agricultural land in the centre of idyllic Isle of Wight. With a modern, design-orientated pavilion, its bowl-shaped ground creating a playing surface with attractive features and ample parking, it has attracted the MCC and Hampshire's first team to play fixtures. 

Gardener foresaw that he could develop a ground to his own tastes if it was easily accessible from the mainland without the constraints of the English and Wales Cricket Board. Working with Robert Griffiths QC, from the MCC development committees he set up constructing a venue where county cricket could take place. 

Gardener thought that a cricket festival could be held at the same time as the Cowes Regatta, and that maybe a form of the money spinning extravaganza similar in idea to the Indian Premier League (IPL) taking place there. Rod Bransgrove, Hampshire chairman and a close friend of Gardener’s liked the idea of first-class cricket being staged on the Isle of Wight. Hampshire had given up their fixtures on the old J Samuel White ground at Cowes in 1962. 

The National Sports Foundation provided a grant for Gardener to create the playing surface from the Newclose land - which is on the main road: A3020 that takes you through Newport to Cowes and is on the bus route for Newport, Ventnor and Ryde. The square was so good it now has MCC sending teams to play on the ground.

In 2009 the cricket ground was officially opened by Mike Gatting MBE. The ground also sees Ventnor 1^st XI play the S.E. Premier League every other Saturday, Godshill CC, and Women’s T20 cricket also play here. The Isle of Wight Cricket Board is based here and this is now an ECB Gold Standard Facility. 

Gardener spent about £2 million on levelling the ground, building the pavilion and gaining planning permission with the intention of building an accompanying hotel. The hotel would be 4-star rated, hold an indoor cricket school in the basement, have 60 bedrooms, a health spa and a floor on top of the pavilion that would house a restaurant and additional meeting areas. The A3020 Blackwater Road was widened outside of Newclose and drainage system was installed. He also had sufficient space for 2,600 cars to be parked. The intention was that sides representing the IPL and clubs, universities and schools from far afield would use the venue as a European base.  

Unfortunately, Gardener died suddenly in January 2015, aged 73, before he could realise the full potential of the cricket ground.

The Newclose County Cricket Ground is now for sale, with a site larger than Lord's this can be yours for £1 million! 

The full details of this site can be found at the following website: https://www.newclosecricket.com/

If you’re interested in purchasing Newclose County Cricket Ground please contact Margaret Budnyj on margaret@newclosecricket.com or via phone: 01628 316973 or 07967 514631.