Hi Guys,
On a day when Dhoni’s six sealed
the World Cup for India six years before, I’m back here writing a blog post on
a cricket ground. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that the first cricket
ground I would walk in my life would be the Melbourne Cricket Ground or ‘The G’
as it is called simply. Despite being so close to the iconic Chepauk Stadium in
Chennai, I have never been inside.
Being in Melbourne on a short official
trip, we were so close yet so far from the ground on the first four days when
we had to put up with the hectic office hours and meeting preparations. On the
final day, we had our return flight in the afternoon. But, I and my colleague
were determined to not miss the opportunity to see the historical ground.
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| The G - from Outside |
The G was two kilometres from the
city centre we stayed and we decided to walk the distance bracing the chilly
morning weather. After a serene walk along the Yarra River and a beautiful
bridge, we were at the stadium by 9.50 am, 10 minutes before the first official
tour kicks off. The 75 minute tour costs AUD 23. For AUD 31.50, you get in a
combined pass for MCG and the National Sports Museum which is also in the same
complex. As we were chasing time, we opted only for the ground tour. At 10, we
were introduced to our tour guide, an elderly lady from the Melbourne Cricket
Club (MCC). She was somewhere in her 70s or 80s, but she was the most energetic
amongst the touring group and we had a tough time matching her pace (It’s a pity
that I forgot her name). Along with the two of us, there were five others – two
from England and three from Australia, meaning it was a group passionate on
Cricket.
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| From the turf! |
The tour started with us being
let into the grass turf, where our guide explained the history of the ground
and stands. The ground was established in 1853, when the settlement was just
pouring in. The ground hosted the first ever test match in 1877 when 30,000
people attended the spectacle (it was a significant population of Melbourne
back then). The ground has four stands – the great Southern Stand which makes a
semi-circle and then Ponsford Stand, Members Pavilion and Olympic Stand which
together make another semi-circle. With a seating capacity of 100,024, MCG is
largest cricket ground by capacity. I have always been awestruck by the four
layered seating arrangement of the MCG and that is what makes the stadium so
special to me.
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| The Great Southern Stand - and the four layered seats! |
We were slightly disappointed that
the turf was being converted into an Australian Rules football turf for the AFL
season that kicked off just the previous day. It would have been greater to see
the ground with the cricket pitch, but still it was magnificent. After a couple
of photographs for later memory, we were taken across multiple facilities
across the four levels. Since, I will run into multiple pages if I describe
about all of them, I am writing some of the significant ones.
While this is the home ground of
the legendary Sir Donald Bradman, the MCC has made lot of credits to WH
Ponsford who was overshadowed by Bradman during his hey days. This includes the
stand named after him. There was names of all the players who has played for
Victorian state (the state were Melbourne is located). The Home and Visitor
change rooms has names of all players who has scored centuries or taken a fifer
here. Bradman has scored 9 centuries here and our guide being a big fan of
Bradman was going mad about it. They had pictures/photos of all the Australian
teams that had travelled to England starting from the 19th century. All
the statistics, pictures, photographs, artworks had to do with Test Cricket. I
guess MCC recognizes only that as pure cricket.
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| A plaque in memory of WH Ponsford |
There were lot of special amenities
for the MCC members including a fine dine restaurant and a great view of the
ground from the Long Hall (made in similar lines with the Lords, except that
batsmen don’t walk through this one). Another special feature about the ground
was the library, which our guide told is one of the best sports libraries you
would come across. Anyone is free to walk in here on Weekdays and refer to the
books. They have a copy of Wisden from 1916 (due to World War only one of them
was published and is worth millions in value in today) and the first dictionary
that had reference to cricket back in the 1600s. Of course, these are locked
and are there only for display.
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| The Long Hall! |
It was interesting to see the
olden day steel benches on display and our guide was saying that with cushioned
seats the facilities for spectators has very much improved. A century back,
spectators were supposed to stand and watch the match in the searing heat. The
ground had hosted both 1956 Olympics and 2006 Commonwealth games. There were
multiple plaques and arts in memories of those events. There were lot of
artworks made specifically for the 150th year of the ground.
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| Those ancient Steel benches! |
Three stand out features to me –
the ground was very accessible from the city – there was a train and tram
station just outside. From city center, we were able to walk without any
traffic interference. And the second one was that the entire stadium was
friendly to physically challenged people including special seats for them
across the stands. The final one is that they have captured and displayed the
entire history of cricket in the ground and evoke strong memories out of it!
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| A view from the one of the ground's balconies - From Left( Practice Tennis Court, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Skyline including Eureka Skydeck, St Paul's Cathedral) and Train/Tram tracks just beside the stadium |
Soaked in the history for the
entire duration, it was time for us to come back to real world and rush to
catch our flights back home… The G will always have a special place in my
heart!
Happy Reading!!!
