I had mentioned at dinner on Thursday how much I had enjoyed visiting the Sydney Cricket Ground and watching a bit of a game.  The Melbourne Cricket Ground is another iconic Australian cricket ground, home of the annual Boxing Day Test which, famously, regularly attracts a crowd of 100,000 spectators.  Matt, it turned out, is a member of the MCG and he suggested we go and watch the touring South Africans play Victoria in a warm up for next week’s day/night test in Adelaide.

As mentioned above, the MCG holds 100,00 people.  If there were 800 in the ground for this game I missed some of them.  Nonetheless, dressed in a borrowed jacket (and Royal Melbourne tie!) I joined Matt and his 5 year old son Elliott at the “G” for a couple of very enjoyable hours.  The ground is a very new stadium.  Unlike Sydney (or Adelaide or Lord’s) none of the original buildings survive.  Instead there is a huge concrete construction.  And huge is the word.  Wembley, Twickenham and the Millenium Stadium all have similar capacities.  None feel as big.  Inside, however, the members area and surrounds are very well done, feeling historic and celebrating the past of Australian cricket (and AFL, which is also played at the G).

Sadly, the game was a warm up game and the SouthAfricans were happy to settle for batting practice, rather than try to win the game.  That didn’t matter, the ground is an extraordinary place, the Long Room (yes, I know, they’ve also copied the (real) MCC logo) is redolent with the history and watching cricket under lights a new experience.  A very enjoyable evening.

 

Matt and (possibly) the future of Australian Cricket as the game finishes under lights

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