Kayman Sankar Cricket Ground

Kayman Sankar Cricket Ground

Hampton Court Hampton Court (Guyana)
Ground information
Location	Hamptoncourtpolder, Pomeroon-Supenaam, Guyana
Coordinates	7°18′55″N 58°28′59″W / 7.31528°N 58.48306°W / 7.31528; -58.48306
Establishment	1977 (first recorded match)
Owner	Kayman Sankar Group
Team information
1977–2004 (Essequibo) 1985–2005 (Guyana)
As of 19 December 2014 Source: CricketArchive

The Kayman Sankar Cricket Ground is a sporting venue in Hamptoncourtpolder, a village on the Atlantic coastline of Guyana's Pomeroon-Supenaam region. Its chief use has been as a cricket ground, though in recent years it has also hosted grasstrack motorcycle racing.

The ground was developed entirely by Kayman Sankar, a rice farmer who founded the Kayman Sankar Group of Companies and owned large amounts of land near Hampton Court, where his rice mill was located. At his own expense, Sankar "flew entire teams and reporters to Hampton Court to play four-day and one-day matches" at the ground, which, as the only major ground in Guyana west of the Essequibo River, was located a good distance from the capital Georgetown and the other major population centres in Demerara and Berbice.^[1] Sankar was the first president of the Essequibo Cricket Board (an affiliate of the Guyana Cricket Board), and the Essequibo cricket team first played at his ground during the 1977–78 edition of the inter-county Jones Cup, against Demerara.^[2] The ground served as a regular venue for Essequibo until the early 2000s, and the inaugural first-class match played there was the October 1980 final of the Jones Cup, between Essequibo and Berbice.^[3] Only the final of that tournament was accorded first-class status, and Essequibo, the weakest of the three counties, made the final only once.^[4]

With team and media expenses met by Sankar, the ground hosted