Many matches have been played at the ground over the years by Sussex, often as part of the Arundel Festival, an annual event held in August. Arundel Castle's first List A match was a 1972 match between Sussex and Gloucestershire in the John Player League. Gloucestershire won the match by 2 wickets, helped by a five-wicket haul from Mike Procter. In 1990, Arundel Castle hosted its first County Championship match. The match was between Sussex and Hampshire and ended in a draw, after Colin Wells scored a century for Sussex and Chris Smith scored a century for Hampshire. The ground has hosted some tour matches, and also MCC matches against international A sides. The first of these matches was in 2000 as part of Zimbabwe's tour of England against a West Indians team. The match ended in a draw, with West Indians Sherwin Campbell, Brian Lara and Shivnarine Chanderpaul all scoring centuries, as well as Zimbabwe and Sussex cricketer Murray Goodwin. In 2002, Arundel Castle hosted a drawn match between Indians and West Indies A and in 2003 it hosted a drawn match between India A and South Africans. The ground hosted MCC matches against the Australiansin 2001, the West Indians in 2004, and Sri Lanka A in 2007; the MCC lost all three matches. In June 2010, the Unicorns hosted Sussex in a match at Arundel Castle. The Unicorns chased down Sussex's score of 325/4 from 40 overs, scoring 327/4, which at the time was the highest successful run chase in the history of 40-over cricket. Batsman Wes Durston scored 117 from 68 balls for the Unicorns. In 2015, a T20 match between Sussex and Surrey was abandoned after Surrey cricketers Moisés Henriques and Rory Burns collided with each other whilst attempting a catch. Both players were subsequently hospitalised.
Other history
In September 2003, Zoological Society of London released 1,000 crickets – specifically Gryllus campestris, the endangered British field cricket – into the wild at the Arundel Castle ground and another undisclosed location in West Sussex. In 2012, The Sunday Telegraph included Arundel Castle in their list of "Britain's best 5 cricket grounds", calling it a "great stop on a family day out in the Sussex countryside." In 2015, The Independent listed the ground in the 10 most picturesque outgrounds to watch County Cricket.
