Wanderers Stadium

The Wanderers Stadium (Imperial Wanderers due to sponsorship reasons and affectionately known as the Bullring due to its intimidating atmosphere) is a stadium situated just south of Sandton in Illovo, Johannesburg in Gauteng Province, South Africa. Test, One Day and First class cricket matches are played here. It is also the home ground for the Highveld Lions, formerly known as Gauteng (Transvaal) and as of 2023, the Joburg Super Kings.

Not to be confused with Old Wanderers in Johannesburg or Wanderers Cricket Ground in Namibia.

Wanderers Stadium
The Bullring
Wanderers Stadium in 2007
Ground information
LocationIllovo, Sandton, Johannesburg
Coordinates26°7′52.17″S 28°3′26.69″E
Capacity34,000[1]
End names
Corlett Drive End
Golf Course End
International information
First Test24–29 December 1956:
 South Africa v  England
Last Test8–11 March 2023:
 South Africa v  West Indies
First ODI13 December 1992:
 South Africa v  India
Last ODI17 September 2023:
 South Africa v  Australia
First T20I21 October 2005:
 South Africa v  New Zealand
Last T20I28 March 2023:
 South Africa v  West Indies
First women's Test17–21 December 1960:
 South Africa v  England
Last women's Test24–28 March 1972:
 South Africa v  New Zealand
First WODI22 September 2013:
 South Africa v  Bangladesh
Last WODI14 February 2016:
 South Africa v  England
First WT20I21 February 2016:
 South Africa v  England
Last WT20I3 February 2019:
 South Africa v  Sri Lanka
Team information
Transvaal
now known as Highveld Lions		 (1956 – present)
Jozi Stars (2018-2019)
Joburg Super Kings (2023-present)
As of 2 April 2023
Source: Cricinfo

Sponsorship

In 2020, Imperial Logistics acquired the sponsorship rights to the stadium. The stadium is officially named Imperial Wanderers Stadium until the end of the agreement in 2025. [2]

History

The stadium has a seating capacity of 34,000, and was built in 1956 to replace the Old Wanderers Stadium. It was completely overhauled following South Africa's readmission to international cricket in 1991. In 1996, five new 65-metre-high (213 ft) floodlight masts replaced the existing four 30-metre-high (98 ft) masts, enabling day-night limited-overs cricket. It is nicknamed 'The Bullring' due to its design and intimidating atmosphere.

On 1 October 2004, the Wanderers Clubhouse was virtually destroyed by fire. At that stage it was known as Liberty Life Wanderers, but as from the 2008/09 season, Bidvest Group took up the sponsoring of the ground, thus it became Bidvest Wanderers Stadium until the end of September 2019.

On 4 October 2019, the Wanderers Stadium announced a new naming rights deal with Imperial Logistics. The stadium is now referred to as Imperial Wanderers Stadium.

Domestic hosting

The stadium had also hosted the 2009 Indian Premier League's second semi-final and the final in which the Deccan Chargers beat the Royal Challengers Bangalore to grab the championship title.

The stadium also hosted the final of Champion League Twenty20 in the 2010 and 2012 edittion

The Wanderers Stadium also hosted a rugby union test match in April 1980 between South Africa and the South American Jaguars while Johannesburg's normal venue, Ellis Park Stadium, was being redeveloped.[3]

Trivia

The ground is among the most historically significant cricket grounds of the twenty-first century. It has staged some of the most important matches in ODI and T20I history, and has witnessed a number of outstanding world records.

The 2003 Cricket World Cup and 2007 T20 World Cup finals were held at the Wanderers Stadium. This stadium also hosted one of the greatest One-day international matches, played between South Africa and Australia in which a world record score of 434 was chased down by South Africa.

On 18 January 2015, the Wanderers stadium saw South Africa's AB de Villiers break the 19-year-old record for fastest ODI half-century, previously held by Sri Lankan maestro Sanath Jayasuriya, by making 50 off 16 balls against the West Indies. In the same match, he also broke Corey Anderson's fastest ODI century record (held for one year and seven days) by making 100 off 31 deliveries. He finished on 149, caught on the boundary in the final over, scored off 44 balls with a strike rate of 338.63.[4]

On 21 February 2016, AB de Villiers scored the fastest 50 (21 balls) for South Africa in a T20I against England.[5]

In July 2018, the stadium hosted former US President, Barack Obama at the Nelson Mandela Lecture. [6]

See also

References
  1. www.wanderers.co.za
  2. "Imperial Logistics - ESG - CSI and partnerships - Imperial Wanderers Stadium". www.imperiallogistics.com. Retrieved 5 January 2022.
  3. Michael Owen-Smith (1990). Tim Jolland (ed.). Test Match Grounds of the World. Willow Books. p. 186. ISBN 0002182823.
  4. "South Africa vs West Indies 2nd ODI 2015". ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  5. "Dominant SA cruise to nine-wicket win". ESPNcricinfo. 21 February 2016. Retrieved 21 February 2016.
  6. "Barack Obama delivers Mandela centenary address in Joburg". News24. 17 July 2018. Retrieved 17 July 2018.
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Events and tenants
Preceded by Cricket World Cup
Final Venue
2003		 Succeeded by
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