Records were broken at the Kia Oval in the 2024 season with the Club seeing more spectators come to watch the Vitality County Championship than any other year in the 21st century.
65,433 fans came to watch the County Championship this year with the Club also seeing records set for a match – 13,706 v Essex – and for a day of the red ball competition – 6,311 for day one v Essex.
The Club also had its largest ever Member attendance at a Vitality Blast fixture, with 5,747 Members swelling the fixture attendance to just over 19,000 to watch Surrey qualify for Finals Day by beating Durham in a rollercoaster of a match.
There was also a record crowd for the South East Stars fixture against Southern Vipers – part of the double header that saw Surrey take on Somerset as part of Blast Off, the first weekend of fixtures in the Vitality Blast. 7,185 fans were in the ground as the Stars beat the Vipers with a dominant performance, an all-time record at the Kia Oval for a regional or county women’s fixture.
The record for largest attendance at a County Championship match at the ground this century had actually been set for the first game of the season against Somerset, where 10,401 watched a thrilling fixture that ended in a draw with Surrey trying to chase down 209 in just 19 overs.
The Essex fixture was a top of the table clash that saw the Club host a Festival of Red Ball Cricket on the first day. The Club ran a special Q&A for spectators with Alec Stewart and Matt Dunn, put on coaching sessions for under 16s and also ran a beer festival.
Steve Elworthy, CEO at Surrey CCC, said “It’s been another very special year of cricket at the Kia Oval and we’ve been so pleased to see the support shown for our teams. Surrey fans are the very best in the country and they’ve shown that the red ball game has a significant and growing appeal.
“It was also great to see the number of fans and Members coming to support the men’s and women’s teams in the Vitality Blast – this bodes particularly well for next year when the first fully professional Surrey women’s team will walk out at the Kia Oval. We will look to continue this trend in 2025 and hope to see more records set next season.”
