Cricket has been played at the Singapore Cricket Club as far back as 1837, only 18 years after the colony was founded by Sir Stamford Raffles. The club was not established until 1852, but it is the second oldest in the country, after the Singapore Turf Club. Its ground - known as the Padang - stands right in the centre of Singapore's colonial landmarks, in close proximity to the Raffles Hotel, St. Andrew's Cathedral, City Hall (on the steps of which the Japanese surrendered to the British in 1945), the Supreme Court and Parliament House amongst others. The site has seen three clubhouse buildings, the present structure having been erected in 1884, and entertained many other sports, among them soccer, rugby and lawn bowls.
Cricket's development in the colony was stunted by the wars, but after World War Two the ground hosted teams such as the touring Australians of 1959. It also hosts competitions in rugby sevens, soccer sevens and hockey sixes. In 2003 the club was given the go-ahead to pursue extensive re-development to the cost of $17 million, the first change to its structure for nearly 120 years. Improvements include the appropriately named Stumps bar which boasts an outdoor seating area and views of the ground. Further modernisations have improved the gym and other sporting facilities, and the club will be reopened to members in early 2007.
