(1960) Peebles: On Australian Cricket Grounds

Excerpted from: "The Good Antipodean Earth" BOWLER`s TURN A further Ramble round the Realm of Cricket

by Ian Peebles (Pavillion Library, 1960)

If, when in Australia, you ask an Australian friend how your cricket team is doing and he replies that, at stumps, they were 2 for 9, and adds that he had just left the Oval, do not panic. He means that at close of play your team had lost 2 wickets for 9 runs -- *not*, as you might suppose, made 2 runs and lost 9 wickets. Nor has he, through sun or excitement, fallen prey to delusion that he had been to Kennington. In Australia all cricket grounds are Ovals, and are tended not by groundsmen, but by curators. Wonderful cricket grounds they are too.

The MCC now invariably kicks off at Perth, which boasts a vast playing area and, on occasions, the fastest wicket in Australia. The is also plenty of space around, but the stand accomodation is considerably less than that of rival centres, which is at times a sensitive point. [...]

The distant but next-door neighbour is, of course, Adelaide, where is enthroned the Queen, or certainly the Beauty Queen, of Australian grounds. The area itself is most comely, with its trim grey red-roofed stands flanked by green banks and trees. The Cathedral, standing on a hill to the West, may be obscured from certain parts of the members` stand by the large and highly efficient score board; but if the spectator raises his eye from the play it travels over the lush, almost sub-tropical, vegetation, to the gracious line of the Mount Lofties Range, 15 miles away. If he be a Celt, his soul may well wing onwards another twleve thousand miles to the hills of Strathmore, which the Mount Lofties so closely resemble.

If you have a taste for the straight drive you had best take in your heaviest bat at Adelaide, for the distance between the screens is about 280 yards. It used to be longer when a cycling track surrounded the turf. Once when I stood on this ground, a most knowledgeable Adelaidian pointed to a bench just behind the rails, saying it marked an historic spot. Long ago, in 1901, Clem Hill, fresh from his 99 in the Melbourne Test, had reached 98 on this ground when he struck Braund so high and far that Johnny Tyldesley, at long on, was forced on to the track where he made the catch. Seeing the batsman departing, this ever fair-minded Lancastrian ran towards him, shouting that he had caught it on the track so it could be not out. When within earshot he received a grateful, if torrid, reply to the effect that the track was within the legal area. Some will remember that Hill got 97 in the second innings, so might, with some justification, have thought himself a bit hardly done by all round.

The approach to the Melbourne cricket ground is also one of great beauty. The traveller can walk through the park with its trees and grass, and exquisite masses of flowers and colour. He may even pause at Captain Cook`s cottage (transported and rebuilt brick by brick) to pay homage. His first view of the ground will be in somewhat striking contrast to this pastoral scene.

Melbourne is a vast amphitheatre surrounding and almost overpowering a huge circular area. In deference to police requirements the accomodation is limited to 105,000 but the magnificent new stand alone seats 43,000 people, or rather more than any English ground can take jam packed. In the old days the playing field dropped as much as 9 feet from end to end, so that ray Lindwall would prefer to bowl downhill, whatever the position of the wind. The major works carried out in preparation for the 1956 Olympic Games have reduced the drop to 4 feet, so the problem is now eased.

Comparisons are perhaps even more than ever odious when drawn by a guest, but it is only honest to say that many who have played on it consider Sydney the best *cricket* ground in Australia, maybe in the world. It has all the qualities that go to make good cricket -- a perfect wicket, beautiful light, a spacious and smooth outfield and first class accomodation. Not least, it boasts the Hill, the spiritual home of all barrackers. There is every amenity for the player, including an adjacent and fullsized practice ground on which many of Australia`s greatest have first shown their youthful paces in the hopes of impressing the critics. It was here that a distinguished panel were mildly amused by the bucolic unorthodoxy of a young man from Bowral, named Bradman. Their mood was tempered to one of reflection when Arthur Mailey pointed out that, after 10 minutes` play, no ball bowled had reached the back of the net.

Brisbane differs from these other grounds in that it is the most Northern, and being sub-tropical, the vegetation and climate are rather exotic. When it rains in earnest it doesn`t matter awfully whether the groundsman (!) gets there in time with the covers or not, for in a few minutes they can be floating around on a respectable depth of water. This is of course unusual, and for the most part it is a green and perfect wicket.

[...] Brisbane, according to non-Queenslanders, has something of a reputation for adventure and mis-adventure. [...] A Victorian once waggled his head and sighed "There`s always something at Brisbane." He said he could remember the days when they had a horse roller and, between innings in one match, lost the horse. Apart from the embarrassment caused to the hosts, this would seem to raise a rather tricky legal situation, but, possibly to avoid future complication, the wayward beast was replaced by a steam roller. This, according to my friend, proved to be an even more temperamental, for at least the horse, when located, could be persuaded to perform at the required moment, which was not always so in the case of its mechanical successor. Owing to some defect of design or construction, the manipulation of this contrivance called for delicate timing. If stoked up too soon, it was liable to blow up, and if the process was too long delayed, there was never enough steam to get under way. Thus the curator (!) would watch the later batsmen in an agony of speculation as to whether an unexpected collapse would catch him with the pressure gauge at half mast, or an inconvenient last wicket stand precipitate an explosion. However, time marches and there is now a splendid diesel machine and, anyway, as I have said, my informant was a Victorian. For my money, Brisbane is a pleasant place in early summer before the thermometer gets substantially over the 100 mark.

As one whose knowledge of grass is limited to the fact that it is green and, inconveniently, needs cutting once a week, I was interested to learn something of the physical characteristics of those grounds from an expert, Mr. Watt, who recently left the Sydney grounds to re-establish the Melbourne turf. The grass used on all is couch (pronounced kootch, as the proper name for a sofa in Scotland). It thrives on sun and constant cutting produces a very fine texture. Each ground has its own subsoil brought from neighbouring districts, Bulli at Sydney, Merri Creek at Mel- bourne, and Athelstone at Adelaide, and it is laid on the table to a considerable depth -- 18 inches at Sydney. Even so, Aus- tralian pitches generally seem to suffer from the same creeping malady as our own. Would geologists or botanists, or both, com- bine to find the explanation and supply the answer? It is very important to the future of cricket.