Adelaide Oval head curator Damian Hough says the iconic venue can accommodate footy and cricket seasons simultaneously

Footy and cricket could be on a collision course when it comes to ground availability, but Adelaide Oval head curator Damian Hough says the venue could manage if the two sports were to overlap.

Damian Hough says Adelaide Oval ground staff could drop a wicket in for cricket matches and then take it out for footy games in a quick time frame, if required. Picture: Sarah Reed

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The AFL and cricket seasons could be on a collision course when it comes to ground availability, but Adelaide Oval head curator Damian Hough says he and his ground staff could manage a scenario where the two sports coexist later this year.

The postponement of the AFL season because of the coronavirus pandemic, after just one round, has created the possibility of the competition having to stage games after October and possibly as late as December.

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This would clash with some of the biggest events planned for the Oval this year – the yet to be confirmed India day/night Test and the T20 World Cup – as well as the Big Bash.

But Hough said AFL and cricket games could be held in quick succession at the Oval.

“Subject to the schedule, but we will wait and see how it goes, we are very flexible,” he said. “We have the technology here to play multiple sports in a short period of time.

With no AFL games currently being played due to coronavirus, Adelaide Oval head curator Damian Hough and his team are taking the opportunity to do restorative works on the playing service and the northern mound. Picture: Sarah Reed

“Obviously there are a lot of challenges, but we have the ability to prepare pitches out in our nursery and our No. 2 ground and drop them in here and play a game and get them back out again and change it over.

“All those options are on the table.”

In fact, Hough said there was precedent for something similar happening at the venue.

“We did the first day-night Test (against New Zealand in 2015), that was a five-day turnaround between the AC/DC concert and the Test match, so that is a good guide,” he said.

The halting of games Adelaide Oval after the Crows’ Round 1 loss to the Swans has given Hough and his reduced team the chance to give the surface a “heavy renovation” during the venue’s quiet time.

“It’s really about the health of the turf and trying to get it as good as we can and in the right condition for the footy season to return,” he said.

Originally published as Adelaide Oval head curator Damian Hough says the iconic venue can accommodate footy and cricket seasons simultaneously