I’ve now lived in Canberra more than half my life; I’ve lived here more than I haven’t. And for the absolute majority of those years, I never really thought I’d ever see Test cricket played in this city.
Manuka Oval will become the 118th Test cricket venue in the world, and Australia’s 11th this Friday. But its history goes all the way back to 1924, when the then Manuka Circle Park hosted a local Australian Rules football match.
I knew that Manuka Oval was always only created as a temporary solution for the young city, but local cricket stats man Adam Morehouse told me recently that the original plan was for Manuka to host local sport just for a few years until the proposed National Sportsground was built on the area east of Black Mountain, a place long since occupied by the CSIRO and the Australian National University.
That never eventuated and in the early days, Manuka Oval hosted everything: football of all codes, boxing and wrestling bouts, the National Sheepdog Trials in 1945, and more than 16,000 school kids welcomed a young Queen Elizabeth II to Canberra there in 1954. Cricket had pride of place in the 1960s. Sir Donald Bradman played his last competitive game there in 1963, and the ground was developed primarily for cricket in 1979.
Just in the time I’ve lived in the ACT, there’s been state, Big Bash League, One Day International and World Cup cricket of both male and female varieties; there’s been rugby and rugby league played at every level up to World Cup events; Asian Cup and Olympic football and A-League matches; more and more AFL each year, Supercar racing around the Parliamentary Triangle, netball internationals, the NBL’s just made a comeback after a decade, and we’re as close as three wins away from an eighth WNBL title. I’m sure I’ve forgotten others, too.
So, its not like Canberra has been deprived of sport or anything in the two decades I’ve lived here.
But cricket has tended to have been a drip-fed entry into Canberra’s sporting history in this time. For a long time, it was just the annual PM’s XI match against a touring side, but even that game was allowed to deteriorate to the level of afterthought with the advent of the BBL.
When this time only four seasons ago, the PMs XI was played on the same night as a BBL game and selected from as few BBL teams as possible – so as to not muck players around too much with extra travel, the explanation went – I was moved to wonder in January 2015 if the traditional tour match’s days were numbered.
Fortunately, the match appears to have been revived and is doing pretty well again away from the BBL earlier in the summer. But it’s only doing ‘pretty well’, because since the installation of the striking lacrosse-stick-shaped light towers in 2013, we’ve been blessed with cricket choice.
That investment ensured Canberra was rewarded with a first ODI appearance by the Australian team, the day/night match against the West Indies only the third ODI since the 1992 Cricket World Cup. And since then, there’s been an international match of some form most seasons. The Australian Women’s side have enjoyed a great record at the ground in both ODI and Twenty20 Internationals over the last decade or so.
But the idea of a Test match still seemed far-fetched.
There was strong talks and very high hopes from the ACT Government that the Territory’s Centenary in 2013 might have seen the first Test Match played in Canberra. That idea never really got off the ground, though it was partly offset by the addition of the aforementioned lights and resultant ODI in February of that year.
Going back to the turn of the 21st century, the ACT’s cricket ambitions nearly became fatal. After three seasons in the Mercantile Mutual Cup, as it was known at the time, ACT Cricket was sensationally kicked out of the competition in May 2000.
Having gained a toe in the door of elite state cricket, the then ACT Cricket Association started making noises – not unreasonable noises at the time – about wanting full member status on the Australian Cricket Board and a place in the Sheffield Shield competition as well, with the longer-term goal of hosting international cricket in the National Capital.
Though there was some degree of support for the ACT’s grand plans, the smaller states – notably Western Australia and Tasmania – saw the ACT’s agitating as a threat to their ability to host Tests and ODIs and all the revenue that came with it, and coerced enough support at board level to see the Canberra Comets punted from the state one-day cup. Cricket in the ACT was put back in its box.
Happily, time healed wounds and Cricket ACT slowly clawed its way back onto the national stage. The 2013 ODI was the first of many. Manuka hosted a number of games during the 2015 World Cup – including Chris Gayle patchy-then-explosive 215* against Zimbabwe – and just this week, the ground was confirmed as one of six venues for the Women’s Twenty20 World Cup in February and March 2020.
In April 2016, it was confirmed that Manuka Oval would become Australia’s newest Test venue, and all the hard work by a lot of very good people over the past two decades will come to fruition on Friday.
And having seen the ground already this week, I can tell you it’s going to look magnificent. And though he has a pretty healthy bias on account of being a former Manuka groundsman, Australian offie Nathan Lyon on Wednesday described the outfield as “one of the best in Australia, if not the world”.
There will be lots of runs; there always is. But the bowlers prepared to play the long game and bowl in the right areas and the right lengths will be rewarded when the pitch starts slowly crumbling from around Day 3. Lyon himself took five wickets on Day 4 as NSW beat Queensland in a Shield match back in November.
Sri Lanka will find more enjoyment from the surface than they did in Brisbane last week, and when you add all this up, it looms as a really enticing contest between the two sides.
It really is going to be a wonderful occasion. And it truly will be a day so many cricket and sports fans in Canberra thought would never happen.
Timmuh
Roar Guru
That is a bit of an oddity that had never crossed my mind. But actually hosting two nations, without being a neutral venue, is something a bit different.
Tigerbill44
Roar Guru
Congratulations to all the people of the city. Here, we pride ourselves for Dhaka (or Dacca) being the home ground for two different test playing nations; Pakistan between 1955-1969 and Bangladesh from 2000.
JamesH
Roar Guru
Spruce, 2010 was before the new Ponting Stand and members area upgrade, so 7k wasn't a bad crowd back then. And the weather for the 2016 South Africa test (played in mid-November, for crying out loud) was atrocious. I was planning to go on the Sunday and the entire day was washed out by classic Hobart spring drizzle. I have noticed a bit of a decline in attendance for cricket at Bellerive recently though, which is a shame. I guess some people don't know what they've got til it's gone.
Sammy
Guest
There will always be a minimum of five home Test Matches each Summer, and the venues will always be the five mainland State capitals - Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney. When a Season comprises six Test Matches then Hobart and Canberra will have to alternate. Canberra is not just the National Capital but also a defacto capital for much of regional NSW which has a population of 4 Million. Giving more Aussie venues a Test Match means playing more Home tests - probably during September and October so as not to clash with the overseas tours to the Northern Hemisphere. In theory Pakistan and Afghanistan could shift their Home matches from the UAE to Darwin or Cairns, but would they get a decent crowd ??? .... probably not, although having said that, Pakistan have not been able to draw big crowds to the Abu Dhabi Sheikh Zayed Stadium or the Dubai Sports City Stadium.
Sammy
Guest
The Canberra Comets had a few International players - Brad Haddin, Merv Hughes, Mike Veletta. Peter Solway never represented Australia but was selected to play for the Australian Prime Minister's XI against South Africa in 1993/94, along side Ricky Ponting. Nathan Lyon and Michael Bevan were both Canberra products too, although never played for the Comets.
Brett McKay
Expert
Yeah right, so it is. I still don't believe this will Canberra or Hobart’s last Test, though..
Timmuh
Roar Guru
When there are two home Test series they will be 3 and 2, according to the FTP. Next summer is two against Pakistan, 3 against New Zealand. https://pulse-static-files.s3.amazonaws.com/ICC/document/2018/06/20/6dc2c8d4-e1a5-4dec-94b4-7121fab3cd7f/ICC_Tours.pdf
Jason Hosken
Roar Guru
The Gabba will always host an Ashes Test. Day-1 of an Ashes series in Brisbane a must, it’s the only long form game Queenslanders mark on the calendar.
Shane
Guest
Agree, Hobart is more deserving.
Brett McKay
Expert
I definitely will, don't worry about that!
Paul
Roar Guru
very jealous Brett, hope you enjoy the game
Brett McKay
Expert
I can certainly see that being the case Spruce, just as it's the case now and in previous seasons that Hobart and Brisbane/Perth (pre-new stadium) battled for the fifth of five Tests. Reckon that's also why Cricket Australia and Queensland Cricket were so vocal about needing upgrades at the Gabba, and why Qld state ministers were calling for Federal funding for said...
Brett McKay
Expert
Won't there still be split series in future summers though, Timmuh? Two three-Test series in a season? In fact, New Zealand are here next summer, and I'm sure they won't be playing a five-Test series. I'm almost certain Pakistan is the other touring side. I don't think this will Canberra or Hobart's last Test at all...
Brett McKay
Expert
I was going to say!!
Brett McKay
Expert
Shouldn’t be Paul, it’s been hot the last two days, but a cool change arriving tonight will make things very pleasant – mid-20s pleasant – over the first couple of days…
Brett McKay
Expert
Capacity on cricket mode is around 11500-12000. With blocks of seats tarped off these days as extensions of sightscreens, the capacity is reduced..
Nick
Roar Guru
I actually foresee a time where it might be Canberra, Hobart and Brisbane fighting it out for a venue slot. The Gabba may have the best pitch in the country (possibly even the world) for batting and bowling, but Brisbane people are really taking their annual test for granted.
Nick
Roar Guru
Hear hear. South Oval is a gem. I spent many an afternoon there when at ANU.
Nick
Roar Guru
Can't agree with that. Tasmanians had opportunities and they consistently ducked going to test cricket. They had a January opportunity in 2010 against Pakistan which they avoided like the plague. There was absolutely no reason to not go to that. Summer, 5 days. Ponting made a double in-front of 7,000. Poor effort. If they couldn't have been bothered turning up to watch South Africa a few years ago, then they really didn't deserve more chances. that said, I freely concede 7000 for a town of 200000 is better than the Gabba scraping 15,000 in a city (and feeder area) of 2.5 million.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
The reason that Canberra have a test match in this era is because they would have put up a great deal of money, just as Tasmania have done recently as well. Tasmania was lucky they got themselves into the Sheffield Shield before Sutherland took over. Canberra and Tasmania will be played off against each other when there is a sixth test match and for whatever else is left over. Same goes with all the other sporting events, they are all done with the same premise that a sporting event is going to bring in the tourist dollars. Unless people are staying overnight in Canberra days visitors are not going to bring a lot of money in. Generating local crowds only means money that was going to be spent in Canberra anyway is spent A Sheffield Shield team in Canberra funded by Cricket Australia as they fund the other Sheffield Shield teams would be a better option financially for the Canberra local than paying over the top money.