Eden Park world’s most popular cricket ground

Originally published by 1 News.

Eden Park has been named as the world’s most popular cricketing venue, following research conducted by cricket tipping experts Cricket Bet India.

The company compiled data combining three key metrics – Instagram tags, Facebook check-ins and average global monthly web search volume – to rank the leading cricketing stadiums around the world in order of perceived popularity as a score out of 100.

In what would be a surprise to many cricket fans in New Zealand and around the world, Auckland’s Eden Park comfortably clinched the top-billing with a score of 66.96 out of 100.

Adelaide Oval and the Melbourne Cricket Ground were well behind in second and third, with respective scores of 50.93 and 42.24.

Eden Park’s rise to the top may have been heavily elevated by the fact it is also the home of the Blues and a long-time fortress for the All Blacks.

Add in concerts, rooftop tours, ziplining and the G9 golf experience and it is no wonder the multi-faceted stadium has such an impact online.

While the ranking will draw plenty of skepticism, the venue has played host to some thrilling cricket games over the years.

Many will never forget the Black Caps’ famous semi-final victory over South Africa in the 2015 World Cup, as well as the heart-stopping one-wicket victory over Australia in the same tournament.

In total, New Zealand accounts for six of the top 93 grounds around the world, coming out on top with an average overall popularity score of 12.09, leading the way ahead of England and Australia.

Surprisingly, Lord’s – known globally as the home of cricket – was only rated the fourth best ground in England, and tenth overall.

Manchester’s Old Trafford (fourth), Kolkata’s Eden Gardens (sixth) and Brisbane’s Gabba (eighth) also featured in the top ten.