Overview
Headingley, Leeds is one of England's most established international cricket grounds, situated in the north of the city and used for Test, ODI, and domestic white-ball cricket. Across 135 matches recorded in our dataset between 2003 and 2025, the ground has hosted the Vitality Blast (77 matches), The Hundred (20), ODIs (19), Tests (18), and one T20 international. Yorkshire use it as their home base for domestic limited-overs cricket, while England's international programme returns here regularly. The ground is associated with seam-bowling conditions in the longer format but its white-ball record is more balanced, with first-innings scores averaging 203 and chases succeeding 44% of the time.
The team records reinforce Headingley's status as a ground where home familiarity counts. Yorkshire's 58% win rate from 75 matches is comfortably the strongest in the dataset, and England's 64% international win rate from 36 games underlines a consistent pattern across formats.
Pitch and conditions
In white-ball formats, Headingley produces measured rather than explosive powerplay scoring, averaging 41 runs at the cost of 1.22 wickets across the first six overs. The bulk of scoring comes in the middle overs, which average 131 runs per innings, but the death overs are comparatively restrained at 33 runs on average. That shape, front-loaded wicket preservation and middle-overs accumulation but a difficult finish, means batting line-ups that can build through the 7-15 overs range tend to fare better here than those relying on late power.
First-innings scores average 203 against a second-innings average of 191, and teams chasing have won just 44% of completed matches. The gap is not enormous, but it is consistent enough across 135 matches to carry some weight. Captains who win the toss have chosen to field first 47% of the time, so there is no strong consensus towards chasing at this ground, in contrast to many other English venues where the toss winner opts to bowl almost reflexively.
In Test cricket, the surface has historically offered seam movement and swing, particularly in the first session after a pitch preparation. The bowling records here, dominated by pace and spin combinations rather than any single type, suggest conditions can change significantly across a five-day match, with the pitch often behaving differently by days three and four.
Historical records
The batting records at Headingley are dominated by Test innings of extraordinary scale. SD Hope's 265 off 464 balls for West Indies in August 2017 sits at the top of the all-time list at this ground, made in a match that also saw KC Brathwaite compile 229 off 429 balls. Rishabh Pant's 252 off 318 balls in the June 2025 Test is the second-highest individual score, while Jonny Bairstow's 233 off 201 balls against New Zealand in 2022 is the fastest of the top five innings. KP Pietersen's 226 against West Indies in 2007 completes the list. All five of these innings came in Tests, reinforcing how the longer format has produced Headingley's most sustained individual performances.
The bowling records are similarly defined by Test cricket. James Anderson claimed 10 wickets for 45 runs across 25.2 overs against Sri Lanka in May 2016, the best figures on record at the ground. Graeme Swann (10/132 in 41 overs against New Zealand in 2013) and Jack Leach (10/166 in 70.8 overs in 2022) are the other bowlers to reach ten wickets in a match here. JH Kallis took 9/92 for South Africa in 2003 and Josh Hazlewood claimed 9/115 for Australia in 2019, both suggesting the surface can assist visiting bowlers as readily as the home side.
Who plays here
Yorkshire are the primary tenants, playing 75 of the ground's 135 recorded matches and using Headingley as their home venue for Vitality Blast cricket. The Northern Superchargers, the Leeds-based franchise in The Hundred, have played all 20 of their home Headingley fixtures here with a 47% win rate from those 20 games. Visiting domestic sides have met mixed fortunes: Birmingham Bears carry a 67% win rate from seven matches, whilst Worcestershire have won only two of their eight visits. England's international programme accounts for 36 of the remaining fixtures across Tests and ODIs, making Headingley one of the busier international venues on the county circuit.