The Oval, London

The Oval in Kennington on a summer evening in 2011, the sweeping roof of the Vauxhall End stand in the middle and the iron frame of the Victorian gasholder on the right. That gasholder, now protected as a listed structure, has watched over Tests here since the first one ever played in England, in September 1880, when W. G. Grace made 152. The Oval traditionally stages the last Test of an English summer, which is why so many series have been settled on this grass. It holds about 27,500.