Cricket scribes mark down MCG as Adelaide Oval scoots ahead
The MCG’s fall from grace due to its deathly slow deck spotlights the fact that a ground can have history, ambience, great grandstands and easy access but if the pitch sucks, everything sucks, Robert Craddock writes.
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The Melbourne Cricket Ground has lost its rating as Australia’s premier cricket ground according to a special Newspoll.
Well, to be truthful, it’s not that special and it’s not a true Newspoll.
It’s just that I work for News Corp and it’s my little poll so please excuse the grandiose title.
It was, in fact, an informal survey of 10 Australian cricket scribes in the MCG press box.
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In the hope of stopping them from being driven from the industry through boredom into more stimulating jobs such as professional stamp collecting or rainbow watching I posed a simple question.
“All things considered, which do you rate the best cricket ground in Australia and the two next best?’’
With a combined experience of around 100 years in journalism including hundreds of Test matches covered, everyone had the same number one ... Adelaide.
The magnificently renovated Adelaide Oval got 30 votes (10 threes) compared to Sydney (16 including seven twos) with Perth’s Optus Stadium (seven), the MCG (five) and the Gabba (two).
The verdict was both overwhelming and damning.
No scribe rated the MCG higher than third and the pained expressions of those who gave it a solitary vote looked as if they were voting for what the ground was rather than is.
Though the participants gave their votes under the assumption they would not be named one voter who shall remain The Australian’s Peter Lalor summed up the sentiment when he answered straight away “Adelaide ... by a mile ... and then ... ahhh ... let me see.’’
It was a bit like that.
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Adelaide, with its easy access, modern grandstands, old world scoreboard, grassy hill and competitive wicket, is the complete package, the standard-setter.
It was the only ground without a fault.
Melbourne’s fall from grace due to its deathly slow deck spotlights the fact that a ground can have history, ambience, great grandstands and easy access but if the pitch sucks, everything sucks.
Crowd sizes are overrated.
Lord’s is the best cricket ground in the world with a capacity of just 30,000.
The pitch is the only part of the game that features on television every ball. It is match’s most sedate feature yet, in some ways, its most decisive star.
As former Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland once said, ground rankings are not a permanent thing.
Some grounds fade (the Gabba). Some are salvaged by a decent deck (also the Gabba). Others improve (Adelaide). Some have timeless charm (Sydney). Some are built from nothing and lack history but are saved by a cheeky deck (Perth).
History counts for something but not everything. Cricket grounds are not sport’s version of the Queen.
They don’t sit on the throne until they decide it’s time to abdicate.
The Melbourne pitch needs a major revamp if it is to return to its former glory.
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Originally published as Cricket scribes mark down MCG as Adelaide Oval scoots ahead
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