NEWS
GROUNDS
COLUMNS
MATCH REPORTS
INTERVIEWS
ENEMY CAMP
GALLERY
SCHEDULE
FORUM

The magic of the MCG

Something one has seen only on television, mostly in the unearthly hours of the morning in India, the MCG stands out, spectacularly, for its gigantic size alone. But, what impressed was not the size, but how much of value the Australians give to their history, the memories attached with the ground, the memorabilia.

I had the fortune of meeting up with Tony Ware, the Arenas manager and pitch curator. An extremely pleasant man, he was gracious enough to escort me all around the ground, to the pitch, and give his insights on the nature of the outfield, the pitch, the playing conditions, etc.

On entering the actual ground, the colours simply hit you. Without any warning! A magnificent green outfield, the thoughful mix in colours of the seats in the Great Southern Stand, red, blue, grey, green all blend together to give you a heavenly sight. One felt like screaming aloud, 'play'..! and let the game begin.

A customary 'slow lap' as Tony called it, was warranted, across the ground. So off I went, breathing deeply, trying to let the aura sink in.

The MCG is built as a dome like structure, with the centre, the pitch, on a slightly elevated plane and the rest of the outfield sloping downwards towards the boundaries. This obviously means that outfield is going to be lightning quick. The carpet, as I felt it, seemed true and ideal for a 5 day game. MCG uses 'washed grass'. That is, grass grown in a nursery, washed clean of all the moisture and then laid on the ground. All this of course means, that the ball will travel extremely quick across the ground and - if the batting team settles in - lots of runs.

The pitch itself is hard and true. A little cover of grass notwithstanding, this Test match pitch, is expected to last the course of the game. A quick chat with Tony revealed that he would choose to bat first on this track. Most of the grass cover on the pitch is expected to be dead by the evening of the first day, with only the customary early morning moisture each and the even bounce of the pitch, offering assistance to the quickies.

"Tell your Indians we've prepared a very competitive pitch. Not to worry", was Tony's comment. That I caught the twinkle in his eye, is another matter altogether.

Tony though, gave an interesting piece of information. From next year, MCG will be using portable pitches. This, keeping in mind that, the ground plays host not only to cricket, but Aussie rules football, - or footy as it's called - , Olympic soccer next year and plenty of musical events. Obviously, all this does heaps of damage to the pitch and the outfield.

While the entire outfield itself is going to be relaid too next year, the 30 tonne pitch will be lifted out with a crane, a pointer perhaps, at the technological changes the game is going through.

The average size of the boundaries on each side in 85-90 yards. One noticed the area sqaure of the wicket a little longer than the rest. But, as Tony pointed out, if the batsmen get stuck in, then big hitting can be enthralling to watch, the long boundaries notwithstanding. Like how the New Zealand all rounder, Lance Cairns, once smote the Aussies all over the park. Chasing a total of 300 plus, the Kiwis lost the game, but not before big Cairns thrashed the Aussie bowling, 5 huge sixes standing out. One six, hit with one hand, travelled 120 yards!

Or when Viv Richards played an unforgettable knock of 208 not out, in 1984, against the Aussies, flaying the bowling to all parts. All fielders on the boundary lines, still couldnt stop the rampaging Antiguan. "Never watched anything like that ever and never will. Simply breathtaking," says Tony.

A total of 6 floodlight towers adorn the ground. Installed in 1985, these however will not come into play during the Tests, as India has not agreed to play under lights to make up for any lost time.

Sometime back, during a local footy game here, the MCG scoreboard caught fire and was gutted partially. However, as Ken Parker, the ground manager, revealed, this has now been reconstructed and will serve the course of the match. A new scoreboard however, is coming up and will in all probability be commissioned in February 2000.

An outstanding feature of the MCG, located towards the south, the Great Southern Stand will host 48,000 people. That's half of a total capacity of 97,000 the groud offers. It's so huge, the MCG staff decided not to name it after any Australian sporting icon, probably because they had to name it as logically is it now! The Great Southern Stand, therefore remains.

Set up in 1956, on the eastern side of the ground is the Olympic stand, much smaller in size, but extremely colourful. Towards the west is the Ponsford stand, installed in 1967 and equally colourful, a feature probably of most Australian grounds. There are no grassy "hills" like in Adelaide, this ground has seats in entirety.

MCG has fantastic practice facilities on offer, for the players. The Indian dressing room is quite compact, with all players choosing to sit together closely. Right under the players room, are steps which lead to practise indoor net facilities. Located next to the well stocked gym, there are 2 pitches on offer here, with artificial carpet acting as turf.

When in MCG, history beckons. One had heard of that, but once there, one knew why. Tony showed me around and some amazing artefacts were to be seen. Bradman's and Ponsford's old bats, medallions presented to the club members, some really old advertisement pamphlets, which have been framed and preserved, stood out.

Incidentally, the Melbourne Cricket Club - which was founded in 1850 - was an army base earlier. A rub off on the customary Australian discipline while playing the game?

Maybe.

A historic ground, yes. India will do well to do well here. One of their more famous wins was here in early 1980's. Who better than the current coach, Kapil Dev to tell his wards about that. His 5/28 in the second innings skittling out the Aussies for 83.

One hopes Sachin and army can keep their date with history.

Guest Columns