What is Pavilion End in Cricket?

Exploring the Meaning and Significance of ‘Pavilion End’

When you hear about cricket jargon and terminologies, you often hear about the term ‘Pavilion End’. If you don’t know the meaning, you’ve come to the right place! Let us take a closer look at the specifics.

Cricket is a game loved and watched by many. Over the years, it has evolved into a well-developed sport with various ground rules, regulations and terminologies. 

While cricket is often played in gullies and alleyways, this is not the case with first-class cricket. When played formally, cricket requires some designated venues and arrangements. 

At the international, national and domestic levels, there are certain universalized and standardized field measurements like pitch size, markings for bowling crease, radius of infield circle, etc. But firstly, here are the very basics of the setup required to play first-class cricket. 

Cricket is played on a large grass field, typically shaped circular or oval. At the core of the field is the Cricket Pitch, a 22-yard long and 10-foot wide flat strip of grass and soil. This pitch is marked with important lines called creases. 

Outside the field, towards one side of the pitch is a space called the Pavillion.

What is a Pavillion?

The Pavillion is an important structure located on one side of the field. It is in the form of a building or a sheltered space that houses the players’ dressing rooms, viewing areas for team officials, and sometimes media and VIP sections. 

You must have often looked at cricketers returning to the pavilion after the end of their innings or at the end of the match. This is where the commonly used phrase “Back to the pavilion” came into being.

Stadium cameras pan on famous cricketers sitting at the pavilion to record their reactions during shocking wickets, sixes or centuries.

What is the Pavilion End?

Now that we know about the Pavilion, it is easy to understand the meaning of ‘Pavillion end’. 

There are two sets of wickets on the pitch and thus two ends. As an over ends, the bowlers move from one end to the other. 

Named after the “Pavilion’ the end of the field closest to the pavilion is known as the ‘Pavilion End’. 

This end is often used as a reference point for the positioning of players and the starting point of a bowler’s run-up. 

Bowlers delivering from this end are said to be bowling from the Pavilion End.

While one end of the pitch is called the Pavilion End, the opposite side is often referred to as Hill End or City End.

Let us understand with the help of an example. 

If a bowler is bowling from the pavilion end and the batsman (striker) is standing at the Hill end, then for the next over the bowler will change sides and come to the Hill end while the other batsman (non-striker), standing at the Pavilion end will take up batting. 

Why do players change ends after every over?

Now we know the meaning of a pavilion end. But we’re still not sure why bowler and batsmen change ends after each over. The primary reason for this is to ensure equal opportunity for both teams. 

While the cricket pitch is uniform throughout, even slight variations can lead to disadvantages for a team. Over the course of a game, a cricket pitch can develop variations in bounce, swing, and turn. Additionally, if the wicket on one side of the pitch is used again and again, its grip and condition might deteriorate.

As a result, one team can gain an unfair advantage over the other. To overcome this, bowlers switch from the Pavilion end to the Hill end and vice versa.

End Names: Players, Politics and Business

While generally, the end closer to the pavilion is called the pavilion end, sometimes other interesting names are given to it. 

At the Zahur Ahmed Chowdhary Stadium in Chittagong, a pavilion end was hilariously named ‘Killer Jeans End’ after one of the sponsors of the match.

In 2020, controversy arose around the Narendra Modi Stadium in Gujarat when the two bowling ends were named after the two most affluent businessmen in the country, Ambani and Adani, as a result of their handsome contributions to the renovation of the ground. 

The ends were named “Adani end” and “Reliance end”. Fans and politicians accused the BJP government of insulting Sardar Patel’s legacy, in whose honour the ground was previously named.

Recently, in July 2024, a pavilion end was named after England pace legend Stuart Broad at the Trent Bridge Cricket Ground. The player was seen proudly unveiling his namesake end.

Final Words Before the End

The game of cricket has an infinite number of intricacies. From ground rules to field arrangements to records to political controversies, the list is never-ending! 

Anyways, now you have a good enough idea of what we mean by the term ‘Pavilion End’ right?