The Bourda is a cricket

Cricket

Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of 11 players on an oval-shaped field, at the centre of which is a rectangular 22-yard long pitch. One team bats, trying to score as many runs as possible while the other team bowls and fields, trying to dismiss the batsmen and thus limit the...

 ground in Georgetown

Georgetown, Guyana

Georgetown, estimated population 239,227 , is the capital and largest city of Guyana, located in the Demerara-Mahaica region. It is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast at the mouth of the Demerara River and it was nicknamed 'Garden City of the Caribbean.' Georgetown is located at . The city serves...

, Guyana

Guyana

Guyana , officially the Co-operative Republic of Guyana, previously the colony of British Guiana, is a sovereign state on the northern coast of South America that is culturally part of the Anglophone Caribbean. Guyana was a former colony of the Dutch and of the British...

, used by the Guyanese cricket team for matches with other nations in the Caribbean

Caribbean

The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

 as well as some Test matches

Test cricket

Test cricket is the longest form of the sport of cricket. Test matches are played between national representative teams with "Test status", as determined by the International Cricket Council , with four innings played between two teams of 11 players over a period of up to a maximum five days...

 involving the West Indies. Located in Bourda in Georgetown, Guyana, between Regent Street and North Road, it is home to the Georgetown Cricket Club (GCC). The ground is reminiscent of old baseball stadiums, due to its cantilever

Cantilever

A cantilever is a beam anchored at only one end. The beam carries the load to the support where it is resisted by moment and shear stress. Cantilever construction allows for overhanging structures without external bracing. Cantilevers can also be constructed with trusses or slabs.This is in...

 stands. The Ladies stand is as fascinating, but the more modern, such as the Rohan Kanhai stand, blend in well. The liveliest part of the ground with the ubiquitous music and DJs is at The Mound, an unprotected area. The ground is nicknamed "The Cornerstone".

While the crowd are passionate about their cricket, they are also among the most volatile, with mini riots and pitch invasion

Pitch invasion

A pitch invasion or field invasion, known as rushing the field in the United States, occurs when a crowd of people who are watching a sports game run onto the field, to celebrate or protest about an incident...

s not uncommon. The worst incident was in 1979 during a World Series Cricket

World Series Cricket

World Series Cricket was a break away professional cricket competition staged between 1977 and 1979 and organised by Kerry Packer for his Australian television network, Nine Network. The matches ran in opposition to established international cricket...

 SuperTest when the pavilion was ransacked and players hid in the changing rooms wearing their helmets for added protection.

It has hosted 30 Test matches and 10 One Day International. Four of the last five Tests at the ground have ended in draws, possibly due to rainy weather, as matches are often scheduled during Guyana's rainy period. The ground, which has a capacity of around 22,000, opened in 1884, has seen Test cricket since 1930, and is the only stadium in the world to be situated below sea level. The ground has a moat round it to protect the pitch from flooding. It is the oldest ground in the Caribbean.

Cricket matches between Trinidad

Trinidad

Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...

 and GCC were played there as early as 1883, and later between GCC and teams from Britain, in 1895 and 1897. It hosted its first Test in February 1930 against England, which the home side won by 289 runs and George Headley

George Headley

George Alphonso Headley was a West Indian cricketer who played 22 Test matches, mostly before the Second World War. Considered one of the best batsmen to play for West Indies and one of the greatest cricketers of all time, Headley also represented Jamaica and played professional club cricket in...

 scored a century in each innings. Clive Lloyd

Clive Lloyd

Clive Hubert Lloyd CBE AO is a former West Indies cricketer. He captained the West Indies between 1974 and 1985 and oversaw their rise to become the dominant Test-playing nation, a position that was only relinquished in the latter half of the 1990s...

 and Rohan Kanhai

Rohan Kanhai

Rohan Bholalall Kanhai is a former West Indian Cricket player of Indo-Guyanese descent. He is widely considered as one of the best batsmen of the 1960s. Kanhai featured in several great West Indian teams, playing with, among others, Sir Garfield Sobers, Roy Fredericks, Lance Gibbs, and Alvin...

 have stands named after them at Bourda. http://content-www.cricinfo.com/westindies/content/ground/59447.html

The ground did not host matches for the 2007 Cricket World Cup

2007 Cricket World Cup

The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth edition of the ICC Cricket World Cup tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007, using the sport's One Day International format...

, as a new stadium, the Providence Stadium

Providence Stadium

The Providence Stadium is a sports stadium in Guyana, replacing Bourda as the national stadium. The stadium was built specifically to host Super Eight matches in the 2007 Cricket World Cup, held in March and April 2007...

, was built. The Guyanese authorities, however, insisted that the Bourda would still be used for first-class cricket.