Marvel Stadium

One of Australia's newest large cricket grounds, the Docklands Stadium opened its doors for the first time in March 2000 but has been known as Marvel Stadium since September 2018 after a naming rights deal.

In fact, its name was never officially Docklands Stadium as it has always been named after a sponsor, with its former names including Etihad Stadium and Telstra Dome.

Although the Marvel Stadium does host some cricket matches, it is primarily used for Australian rules football, with the ground initially planned as a replacement for Waverley Park. It is the second-largest stadium in Melbourne, after the Melbourne Cricket Ground, though the largest possible attendance for cricket stands at 47,000, which is far less than for AFL games here.

Marvel Stadium hosts the Big Bash League side Melbourne Renegades and it has previously been voted as the most entertaining venue for T20 cricket in Australia. The stadium is covered by a roof and it is not unheard of for a batter to get a lot of elevation on a shot and actually hit it.

In the Big Bash League, a player who hits the roof of the stadium scores a six and they cannot be given out even if a player from the fielding side is able to catch the ball when it descends.

Marvel Stadium Pitch Report

With the Marvel Stadium being primarily used for AFL, when it is used for cricket it has a drop-in pitch. These can be controversial and sometimes they are unpopular among players and fans alike, although drop-in pitches are becoming a lot more common at cricket grounds globally.

The Marvel Stadium pitch report shows it can be high-scoring, which helps to explain why it was voted as Australia's most entertaining cricket venue in the past. Figures from cricmetric.com show the average first innings score in a T20 match at the Marvel Stadium for 2023 was just over 160. This was down over each of the three previous years for T20 games at the venue.

Unlike at some other major Australian cricket grounds, the Marvel Stadium T20 results show a strong benefit to batting second. At the ground, 56.4% of matches are won by the chasing team, while the side batting first wins the game in 43.6% of Marvel Stadium T20 matches played.

The lowest bowling averages at the Marvel Stadium are for leg-break and fast bowlers, so the Marvel Stadium pitch report shows slow and quick bowlers can all thrive. Medium pacers tend to struggle to contain the scoring in T20 matches here, which teams should be taking into account.

Aaron Finch is the most prolific T20 batter in Marvel Stadium history, becoming the first player to score more than 1,000 runs at the ground. His strike rate for the venue is also well over 130.

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