County Ground Chelmsford

The Essex County Ground (ECG), is a cricket venue in Chelmsford, Essex, England. It has been home to Essex County Cricket Club since 1967. Chelmsford is a small ground, and therefore suits big-hitting batsmen. Former Essex and England batsman Graham Gooch scored most of his first-class runs there. Graham Napier scored 152 off 58 balls (16 sixes and 10 fours) in a Twenty20 match v Sussex at the ground. The success of Essex County Cricket Club in the shorter versions of the game between 2005 and 2008 led to the attraction of many new fans. Eventually the ground was regularly selling out in Twenty20 and Friends Provident Trophy games. Recent developments at the stadium include the building of new apartment blocks, new pavilion, cricket school, car park, public square and bridge. The Ford Motor Company had naming rights for the ground for between 2005 and 2013. From 2017 to 2019 the naming rights to the stadium have been bought by Cloudfm and therefore the ground will be known as the Cloudfm County Ground. The large amount of passionate support Essex receive at this ground has led to it being popularly referred to as 'Fortress Chelmsford'.