The Bay Oval is a cricket stadium situated in Mount Maunganui, Tauranga in the Bay of Plenty area of New Zealand.
In the 1950s, Blake Park, a multi-speciality arena, was established to host several sporting and public events, including cricket, in the Bay of Plenty area.
Northern Districts, a New Zealand first-class cricket team, used to play their domestic fixtures at Blake Park between the 1987/88 season and 2001/02. The women’s team, too, played two matches at Blake Park in the Hallyburton Johnstone Shield’s 2004/05 campaign.
In 2005, however, the Bay Oval cricket stadium was constructed by the Bay of Plenty Cricket Association, the local governing body for the sport, in the vicinity of Blake Park.
Following a construction period of two years, the Northern Districts women's side played its first match on the ground in December 2007.
However, Bay Oval hosted its first international match six years later in January 2014. In the match, the Netherlands and Canada faced off in an ODI, which was part of the Cricket World Cup Qualifier. The Dutch team won the match by eight wickets.
The Bay Oval has hosted seven T20Is so far in addition to two games which ended in no result.
Let’s have a look at the T20I records at the Bay Oval:
Bay Oval T20I records
Highest total: The highest total in a T20I match at the Bay Oval is 243/5 made by New Zealand in the third T20I of the West Indies tour of New Zealand 2018.
Opening batters Colin Munro and Martin Guptill took the Windies bowlers to the cleaners, with the former scoring a scintillating 53-ball 104 to help the hosts post a daunting total of 243/5. An all-round bowling effort from the Kiwis then bundled out the visitors for 124, as New Zealand won the match by a massive margin of 119 runs.
Lowest total: The lowest total recorded in a T20I match at the Bay Oval is 124/10 made by West Indies against New Zealand in January 2018.
Chasing a massive target of 244 for a win, Windies top-order batter Andre Fletcher was the lone warrior for his side with a 32-ball 46. In the end, the visitors faced an embarrassing 119-run defeat.
Highest individual score: India middle-order batter Suryakumar Yadav holds the record for the highest individual score in a T20I at the Bay Oval.
He scored a 51-ball 111* against New Zealand in the second T20I of the India tour of New Zealand in 2022. The fantastic knock featured 11 fours and seven maximums.
New Zealand batters Colin Munro and Glenn Phillips are the other two batters to register T20I centuries on this ground.
Best bowling: Deepak Hooda's 4/10 against the hosts in the second T20I of the India tour of New Zealand 2022 is the record for the best bowling figures at the Bay Oval.
Batting first, the Hardik Pandya-led India posted a total of 191/6. Thereafter, Hooda spearheaded the bowling attack, taking 4/10 as the Kiwis fell short by 65 runs.
Jasprit Bumrah, Trent Boult, Tim Southee, Rubel Hossain, Ish Sodhi and Matt Henry are the others to bag 3-fers at the venue.
Highest partnership: The venue has recorded five 100+ partnerships in T20Is so far.
The Kiwis pair of Devon Conway and Glenn Phillips holds the record for the highest partnership of 184 runs at the Bay Oval.
In the second T20I of the West Indies tour of New Zealand 2020, the hosts posted a huge total of 238/3 in 20 overs, courtesy of the duo’s 184-run stand. In the end, New Zealand won the match by 72 runs.
Featured image: AFP
