It sometimes gets tedious to spend a lazy Sunday afternoon at home. As an exhausting week of deskwork seems to reach a conclusion, you may want to devote your rare holiday to your family by spending some quality time with them. But, what if you are an ardent follower of cricket, whereas your wife prefers to explore historical places and your children want to see something new and spend their time on merriment by eating cotton candies and popcorns on the way? There is apparently no synchronization among the interests.
We have made an effort to provide you with a one-stop solution if you are confronted with a similar situation. Here’s presenting the names of 5 cricket museums that may capture your imagination and be able to give you a gala time. Whether residents of the following cities or not, you can visit the places when you tour the respective countries.
Here is the list of 5 Cricket Museums every cricket lover will love to know about:
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5. BLADES OF GLORY CRICKET MUSEUM, PUNE, INDIA
The first of its kind museum in India, Blades of Glory was established by Rohan Pate in 2012. As the name suggests, it comprises signed bats of numerous cricketing celebrities. The museum boasts of several startling collections ranging from autographed bats of all World Cup Winning Captains to bats signed by triple centurions in Test Cricket (such as Lara, Sehwag, Jaysurya, Amla, and Sangakkara). Not just individual players but international teams too have been associated with this state-of-the-art museum in some way or the other.
3 World T20 Champion Teams- India (2007), Pakistan (2009) and England (2010) have signed bats which are displayed at the gallery. Malcolm Marshall’s West Indies Cap, cricket gear signed by former greats like Desmond Haynes, Muttiah Muralitharan, Mark Waugh and Allan Border also feature in the catalogue of this vast museum. The latest addition to its inventory is the World Cup 2015 collection.
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And, if you want to see the cherry on the top, you need to visit the Legend’s Room which displays autographed cricketing gear of Sachin Tendulkar, Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Sir Vivian Richards and Ricky Ponting. There’s also a Golden Century frame that includes a golden bat- no ordinary bat by any means as it was signed by a certain New South Welshman, known to the world as Sir Donald Bradman.
All these have been made possible because of Rohan’s constant endeavour which has seen him travel numerous places across the globe in search of captivating cricketing collections that may add to his museum’s impressive repertoire. Rohan, who sees himself as a globetrotter, has been to several places. He collected 47 autographs in Australia during India’s tour down under in 2012. A journey which began from collecting signed bats from players during IPL 4 has today reached a point where this museum is being looked upon as the largest cricket museum in the world- all thanks to Rohan and his laudable idea.
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4. NEW ZEALAND CRICKET MUSEUM, WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND
This beautiful museum located at Wellington’s iconic Basin Reserve was established in 1987. This place has plenty of iconic collections that are worth seeing. If you want to throw a glance at the gear used by the Kiwi legends like Bert Sutcliffe, Trish McKelvey, Sir Richard Hadlee, Maia Lewis and Stephen Fleming, then this is the place you’ve been looking for. The fans form the pivotal point of this museum as it exhibits multiple New Zealand ODI jerseys through the years and all the weird and delightful merchandise that accompany the game.
And, if you are inquisitive about the USP of this attractive museum, you might develop frown lines between your eyes once you hear the answer to your question. A tiger skin. You have heard it right. Only a trip to the New Zealand Cricket Museum can end the suspense, which is gradually taking its toll on your mind.
So, the next time you tour the World’s No.1 tourist destination, make it a point to visit the country’s No. 1 cricket museum- TheNew Zealand Cricket Museum.
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3. MELBOURNE CRICKET CLUB-MUSEUM, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Here’s a trivia. The Melbourne Cricket Ground hosted the first official Test match in 1877. Hence, in this regard, it is comprehensible that Melbourne has been the focal point of international cricket since time immemorial. Such a place has to have a cricketing museum, which would capture several of the club’s innumerable glorious chapters.
The museum made its first official appearance on November 15, 2006, and displays more than 1500 artefacts. The biggest attraction of this world-class museum is the story of the mythical Ashes, where the club’s outstanding collected memorabilia includes the famous Blackham Ball and a gorgeous silver ‘urn’ from manager Frank Laver’s successful tour of England in 1909.
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The exhibition follows a chronological order and features countless fascinating artefacts (including abundant historical objects like MCC secretary Major Ben Wardill’s military helmet holder). Members have access to this museum and you don’t need to be an ardent cricket fanatic to visit the place as the items on display at this museum are pleasing to the eye. There are paintings, artefacts and rare porcelain items that have added a different dimension to the game altogether. If you feel extremely lethargic on ‘boring’ Sunday afternoons, this place has got an apt solution for you.
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2. MCC MUSEUM- LORD’S, LONDON, ENGLAND
LORD’S and Cricket. These two things go hand in hand; so much so that this prestigious stadium in London includes a museum maintained by the MCC, which was opened by HRH the Duke of Edinburgh in 1953. Its collection, however, begun in 1864 and tends to cover the full history of cricket from its emergence in the early 18th century to the modern age of Twenty20 and the IPL.
The most treasured asset of this museum is the original Ashes urn. As per reports, Ivo Bligh’s (The England skipper in 1882) widow donated the urn to MCC in 1928. This priceless artefact rarely leaves LORD’S barring the 2006/07 season when more than 1, 00,000 people came to see the urn in Australia as part of the MCC Travelex Ashes Exhibition.
If you belong to that category of people who like to dwell in cricketing folklore, you will be delighted to hear that the museum consists of cricket kit used by some of the greatest players of all time-be it Victor Trumper, Jack Hobbs, Sir Don Bradman or Shane Warne.
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The best part about the museum is it remains open throughout the year and is part of the famous LORD’S Tour. Visitors must get their tickets for the Major Match Day to gain entry. Entry to the museum on Major Match Days is free. Apart from displaying the aforementioned valuable artefacts, the museum has also managed to capture the sentiments attached to the Gentleman’s Game quite successfully. The stuffed sparrow bowled out by Jahangir Khan in 1936 and the famous Prudential Cup which was last lifted by KapilDev in 1983 happen to be notable attractions of this place.
There is also the Brian Johnston Memorial Theatre which exhibits footage of some of the best performances in 400 years of cricket history. Maybe, that is why they call LORD’S the ‘Home of Cricket’. The icing on the cake is a touchscreen version of the LORD’S 200 3D Model, as a part of their bicentenary year celebrations.
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1. THE BRADMAN MUSEUM OF CRICKET
This man continues to stay at the pinnacle of cricketing archives and also our hearts. Hence, a museum depicting his journey in international cricket will feature at No.1 in this list. I don’t want to waste my readers’ precious time by writing a thesis on this man. That would become an incorrigible burden both on my part as well as yours.
Bowral was the home to the sweetest fruit the game has ever produced. Sir Don’s mother, Emily grew up in Bowral and his parents settled in Bowral with their five children in 1911. It was here that he first produced the sweet sound of hitting a cricket ball while practicing in his backyard.
The Bradman Museum of Cricket is open seven days a week from 10 am to 5 pm and features permanent and temporary exhibitions and archival film, relating to the history of cricket and Sir Don Bradman. There are special arrangements to give you a full-fledged experience in the form of light meals, coffee and Devonshire teas that are available at the on-site ‘Stumps Café’.
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Visitors should give themselves at least 90 minutes (Not even 99.94 minutes) to relish the awe-striking artefacts of this place. It’s worth the visit
Meanwhile, the collective ambience of the aforesaid museums will surely generate some sort of fascination for you. Such museums have definitely enriched the magnitude of the Gentleman’s Game. We at Cricfit, expect more cricket museums to come up in the future and spread the grace of this game.