The Rose Bowl has been awarded its first Test Match and will play host to England v Sri Lanka in 2011.

The historic decision was made by the ECB's Major Match Group (MMG) as part of the allocation of major matches for 2009, 2010 and 2011.

As well as the Test in 2011, The Rose Bowl also won a host of other major matches including 4 One Day Internationals and the Twenty20 Finals Day for the second time.

The Rose Bowl's full allocation is as follows:

2009

  • England v Australia (one-day international)

    2010
  • England v West Indies (one-day international)
  • England v Australia (one-day international)
  • Twenty20 Finals Day

    2011
  • England v Sri Lanka (Test Match)
  • England v India (one-day international)

Rose Bowl plc chairman Rod Bransgrove said: "This is a truly historic day for The Rose Bowl and Hampshire Cricket.

"Staff, players, members, supporters, commercial partners, in fact anyone with an association with this fantastic ground can feel a huge sense of pride in what has been achieved.

"This is the culmination of an enormous amount of hard work and dedication and yes, it is the fulfilment of a personal dream.

"It is important that this is not seen as mission accomplished' though, as we fully intend to be a permanent fixture on the Test Match calendar from 2011 onwards."

Brangrove added: "This allocation of matches was hard fought and demonstrates that with our new £45million development, turning the ground into the first ever Model Test Match ground, we are now one of the major sports and entertainment venues in the country.

"The allocation perfectly matches our proposed development timescale, due for completion in the summer of 2010 and fully tested, well before our historic first Test Match in 2011."

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