All posts tagged: melbourne cricket ground

Modi, Albanese announce Big Bash League opener in Chennai

Modi, Albanese announce Big Bash League opener in Chennai

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4 min readJul 10, 2026 11:12 PM IST India and Australia decided to strengthen sports cooperation and announced a roadmap as Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday, as part of his two-day Australia visit. The two leaders announced that the opening match of the men’s Big Bash League will take place in Chennai in December this year. This will be the first foreign cricket league to play in India. The event will be the cornerstone of a week-long festival, called G’Day Namaste, to be held across India in December, featuring Australian cultural, business and sports events. G’Day Namaste will promote Australia’s economic priorities outlined in A New Roadmap for Australia’s Economic Engagement with India. The two leaders also announced the roadmap on sports cooperation, and the roadmap will “leverage Australia’s experience and India’s ambitions to host major sporting events, creating opportunities to increase our trade, tourism and investment ties”, a statement by the Australian Prime Minister’s office said. It sets out priorities across capacity …

Alastair Cook slams MCG pitch after England win Boxing Day Test match in 2 days against Australia

Alastair Cook slams MCG pitch after England win Boxing Day Test match in 2 days against Australia

Published by Webster

Former England captain Alastair Cook slammed the pitch that was used for the 2025-26 Ashes Test at Melbourne, calling it ‘sub-standard’ and citing how batters like Joe Root and Steve Smith had found it hard to bat on that surface. He added that the MCG pitch had become livelier after he made 244 in the Boxing Day Test match in 2017. “There has been a lot of comment about batting techniques and how players batted on this surface. But I think the pitch was sub-standard, and it became an absolute lottery. International bowlers don’t need very much assistance, and when they get as much as they did here, it becomes almost impossible.” “We saw two modern greats of the game — Root and Steve Smith — really struggling to score runs convincingly. Root tried to gut it out, but in the first innings made a 15-ball duck and barely laid a bat on it, whereas Harry Brook played in his usual adventurous style and made 41, which was an important innings.” “It was after I …

MCG curator in ‘state of shock’ after Ashes Test ends in two days

MCG curator in ‘state of shock’ after Ashes Test ends in two days

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Melbourne Cricket Ground curator Matthew Page admitted that he was in a state of shock over how the pitch his team had prepared, played out in the fourth Test of the Ashes series. The Test match lasted for a grand total of two days with 36 wickets falling in total.   This was the second two-day finish of a Test match in this Ashes series with the opener in Perth also being short-lived. Cricket Australia have estimated that the cost of the shortened Test match would cost the organisation around 10 million Australian dollars.   “I’ve never been involved in a Test match like it and hopefully I’m not involved in a Test match like it again,” Page said to the media. “We know this hasn’t gone as we planned. We will look at what we need to do to improve.”   England captain Ben Stokes was clear in his disappointment at the pitch, saying that similar two-day results in other parts of the world would have raised eyebrows and questions.   Page said that …

‘I’m pretty sure if that was somewhere else in the world, there’d be hell on…’ England skipper Ben Stokes declares his verdict on MCG pitch

‘I’m pretty sure if that was somewhere else in the world, there’d be hell on…’ England skipper Ben Stokes declares his verdict on MCG pitch

Published by Webster

With the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket Ground ending in less than two days, it was also the second time in this year’s Ashes that a Test ended in less than two days. While the Perth Test in this series was the 26th Test match in Test history to finish in two days, the Boxing Day Test this week too joined the list. The previous time an Ashes Test finished in two days was in 1921, the first of the Ashes series between the two countries at Nottingham. England skipper was critical of the pitch post the match and alsovinayakk questioned if the same Test was anywhere else in the world,  there would be ‘hell on’ “Being brutally honest, that’s not really what you want. Boxing Day Test match. You don’t want a game finishing in less than two days. Not ideal. But you can’t change it once you start the game and you’ve just got to play what’s in front of you. But I’m pretty sure if that was somewhere else in the world, …

Alastair Cook slams MCG pitch after England win Boxing Day Test match in 2 days against Australia

‘Not off the cards’: Cricket Australia on MCG hosting day-night Boxing Day Test | Cricket News

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With the opening day of the Boxing Day Test at Melbourne Cricket ground seeing a record attendance of 93,442, it meant that the all-time record for a single day attendance at MCG was broken. With the earlier record of 93,013 during a Boxing Day Test achieved in the 2013 Boxing Day Test, Friday’s attendance record meant that history was created at the iconic ground. While the 100,024 capacity stadium has hosted a women’s day-night Test, the iconic ground has never hosted a men’s day-night pink ball Test. Cricket Australia CEO shared his thoughts about the ground hosting a Boxing Day Day-Night Test and counted the option as ‘not off the cards’. “Look, it’s not off the cards. We’ve been talking a lot about the strength of pink-ball cricket, it was amazing this year in Brisbane, it has been really good in Adelaide,” Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg told the media on Friday. Only the Sydney Cricket Ground and Melbourne Cricket Ground have not hosted a pink-ball day-night Test match. Perth, Hobart, Brisbane and Adelaide have …

Melbourne Cricket Ground to host Australia vs England 150th anniversary day-night Test

Melbourne Cricket Ground to host Australia vs England 150th anniversary day-night Test

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Australia will play a day-night Test at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) against archrivals England in 2027 to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Test cricket, Cricket Australia (CA) announced on Tuesday. The 150th Anniversary Test will be played from March 11-15, 2027, and will be the first time the Australian team will play a Test under lights at the MCG, the scene of the first Test match in 1877 and the Centenary Test in 1977 – remarkably, both won by Australia by 45 runs. This will follow the historic first day-night Test at the MCG earlier this year where Australia’s women completed an Ashes clean-sweep. Late arrival of Australian and England players in IPL 2027? Story continues below this ad The match, which will come after Australia’s five-Test Border-Gavaskar Trophy series in India 2027, is also likely to mean the late arrival of Australia and England players to the 2027 Indian Premier League, with IPL franchises told to expect that year’s tournament to run between March 14 and May 30. “The 150th Anniversary Test …

‘Pure Racism’: Indians Insulted With “Where’s Your Visa” Chants At MCG During India vs Australia Test

‘Pure Racism’: Indians Insulted With “Where’s Your Visa” Chants At MCG During India vs Australia Test

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Indian cricket team fans were targetted by a section of the Australian crowd during the 4th Test in Melbourne last month. A video of the incident has gone viral social media, amid the ongoing series-decider in Sydney. In the viral video, the Australian fans can be seen targetting the Indian fans with insulting chants at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, sparking outrage on social media. “Where’s your visa,” the local crowd can be heard as saying while referring to the Indian fans. “Where’s your visa” pic.twitter.com/foVQFkFUqH — auspill (@aus_pill) January 2, 2025 While the video was recorded during the MCG Boxing Day Test last week, the footage has emerged on social media with India and Australia squaring off in the Sydney Test. Here are some of the fan reactions: Where’s your visas? This is pure racism happening inside the stadium. Unacceptable behavior! #SayNoToRacism #CricketForAll #INDvsAUS #AUSvINDIA pic.twitter.com/aMLasrVaeS — fan (@fan_cricket_) January 3, 2025 I have dealt with Racism. It is a thing that will exist forever. If you’re in …

ICC Ratings: Bumrah sets new Test record, goes past Ashwin to become the highest ranked bowler for India | Cricket News

ICC Ratings: Bumrah sets new Test record, goes past Ashwin to become the highest ranked bowler for India | Cricket News

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Jasprit Bumrah’s presented a performance for the ages in the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy, as he has already secured 30 wickets in the series. His last outing at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) saw him take nine wickets, and took his lead further up as the No. 1 ICC Men’s Test Bowler in the latest ICC Rankings. With a rating of 907, Bumrah has gone past Ravichandran Ashwin in rating points, making him the highest-ranked Indian bowler in Test cricket. Ashwin achieved his rating of 904 in 2016. This also puts Bumrah 17th on the all-time list, sharing the spot with Derek Underwood of England. The Indian spearhead also sees himself storming towards another record. Ahead of the fifth and final Test in Sydney, Bumrah is six wickets away from breaking the record for most wickets for an Indian bowler in a Test series. Bumrah, who has been shortlisted for the ICC Men’s Cricketer of the Year award, ended 2024 with 71 Test wickets to his name, and has bowled at an average of 14.92. The …

How India Can Reach WTC Final Despite 4th Test Loss vs Australia: Win In Sydney And Hope…

How India Can Reach WTC Final Despite 4th Test Loss vs Australia: Win In Sydney And Hope…

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India may have lost the crucial Boxing Day contest by 184 runs but all is not lost as far as their chances of qualifying for the World Test Championship (WTC) Final are concerned. To qualify for the final, India must win the last Test of the series against Australia at Sydney, and then hope for a positive result for Sri Lanka (or a 0-0 draw) when Australia tour the island national early next year. Post the loss, India’s point percentage (PCT) has dropped to 52.78 from 55.89. Australia, on the other hand boosted their PCT as they now have 61.46. South Africa have already qualified for the WTC final after beating Pakistan in the first Test by two wickets on Sunday. If India manage to win in Sydney, they will have 55.26 PCT and Australia will have 54.26. A win out of two Tests against Sri Lanka then would be enough for Australia to go past India’s PCT and join the Proteas in the final. India began the 2024/25 season in a rampant …

‘Virat Kohli’s foot is going straight down the pitch, not towards the ball’: Sunil Gavaskar on batter’s outside off-stump woes | Cricket News

‘Virat Kohli’s foot is going straight down the pitch, not towards the ball’: Sunil Gavaskar on batter’s outside off-stump woes | Cricket News

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Batting legend Sunil Gavaskar on Monday made a scathing assessment of seniors Virat Kohli and Rohit Sharma, holding them responsible for the top-order failure and India’s eventual 184-run defeat in the Boxing Day Test against Australia in Melbourne. While a win gradually faded out from the equation, India’s batters could not apply their defensive acumen to see out the game, with Rohit and Kohli falling cheaply on single-digit scores. Kohli, who was been found wanting for his persisting outside off-stump issues, fell for another delivery in the channel as he edged Mitchell Starc into the slip cordon. Even as he appeared to have approached the second innings with a straighter, side-on stance according to former India head coach Ravi Shastri on commentary, Kohli exhibited a noticeable flaw in the attempted drive that Gavaskar picked up on. “The (Kohli’s) foot is not going to the pitch of the ball, the foot is going straight down the pitch, not towards the ball. If the foot goes more towards the ball, you have more chances of hitting the …