The Lavington Sports Ground, located in Hamilton Valley, just north of Albury, is regarded as one of Australia’s top rural sporting grounds, often holding elite sporting events like as pre-season AFL and NRL games. The field is home to the Lavington Panthers Football Club (OMFL) and the Lavington Cricket Club, and it also hosts the Ovens & Murray Football League Grand Final each year. It was once the home of the Murray Kangaroos, a defunct VFL club.
The Lavington Sports Ground, which opened in 1970, now has a capacity of 12,000 people, and a large $19.6 million makeover was finished in late 2020. An addition to the existing grandstand provided undercover seating for 1500 spectators, as well as a 150-seat function room, media, corporate, and administration facilities, new and remodelled change rooms, terracing upgrades, and a new multi-sport oval and pavilion. In addition, the oval has four enormous light towers that were updated in 2010 to offer TV broadcast quality illumination for night events.
| Former names | Lavington Panthers Oval (2001-2009) |
| Location | Hamilton Valley, Albury, New South Wales, Australia |
| Coordinates | 36°2′6″S 146°54′47″ECoordinates:36°2′6″S 146°54′47″E |
| Owner | City of Albury |
| Capacity | 25,000 approx. Seating: 1,250 (6% capacity) |
| Record attendance | 20,169 (20 March 1995: AFL Pre-Season: Essendon vs. Carlton) |
| Surface | Grass (Oval) |
Records and statistics
From 1990 to 2006, Lavington frequently hosted AFL pre-season practise matches; however, due to a lack of ground lighting, the league began scheduling pre-season games elsewhere in the Riverina region at Narrandera and Wagga Wagga, as well as North East Victoria at Wangaratta and Shepparton, beginning in 2006. The inaugural pre-season match at Lavington Sports Ground was between Richmond and Port Adelaide in 2015, and since then the ground has hosted numerous more.
Lavington Sports Oval
| Highest total recorded | 134/10 (46.1 Ov) by ZIM vs ENG |
| Lowest total recorded | 125/10 (49.1 Ov) by ENG vs ZIM |
| Lowest score defended | 134/10 (46.1 Ov) by ZIM vs ENG |
Pitch Report of Lavington Sports Oval Albury Stadium
According to history, this field favours batsmen greatly. Batsmen may easily rack up a massive score on the scoreboard. There are a lot of high team totals on Oval ground, including England’s 903 and Australia’s 701. We may argue that the Oval never fails to disappoint batters.
However, this pitch is not always conducive to batting. Bowlers controlled the ground as well, causing the batting team to score poorly.
Weather Forecast of Lavington Sports Oval Albury Stadium
Because the weather in England is unpredictable, it is impossible to anticipate who will dominate the match, the batting team or the bowling team. Normally, teams prefer to bat first in test or ODI matches.