Old Trafford cricket ground in Manchester, England, has been hosting cricket matches since the mid-nineteenth century making and is the 2nd oldest Test playing venue in the UK.

The venue has a capacity of over 20k and is regularly sold out for both T20 Blast and international matches.

The stadium has undergone massive regeneration in the last decade to become almost unrecognisable from those early days with the new 'Point' development (shown in the image above) and on site hotel the most prominent examples of the modern Old Trafford.

The pitch itself has a reputation as being one of the best in country with pace and bounce usually on offer early on to aid the faster bowlers and make run scoring easier, while at the same time the wicket will also usually take spin which coupled with the aforementioned bounce make this a happy hunting ground for spinners. Indeed perhaps the most famous example of the impact spin can have here is that this is the very venue that Jim Laker took his record match haul of 19 wickets at back in 1956.

In the T20 era some of the best matches have often been between bitter rivals Lancashire and Yorkshire with 2014, 2015 and 2016 Roses matches all being run fests at Old Trafford and contributing to record T20 scores at Old Trafford.

Despite the quality of pitches in Manchester it is noticeable that no player has scored a T20 hundred at this stadium since Lou Vincent way back in 2008 with the likes of home favourites Steven Croft and Alex Davies falling just short (both finishing on score of 94) in recent T20 Blast Seasons.

Current local stars include leg-spinner Matt Parkison, pace bowler Saqid Mahmood and batting all-rounder Liam Livingstone all of whom are on the fringes of the current England white ball and who will be hoping that runs and wickets at Old Trafford this season in both the T20 Blast and later in the summer the new 'Hundred' competition will be enough to cement places in the national team.

Having a good recent record in the T20 Blast including a finals day appearance last season, Lancashire will be one of the favourites to win the competition in 2021.