Melbourne Cricket Ground

The Melbourne Cricket Ground - known more often as the MCG or even just the 'G - is one of the biggest sports stadiums in the world, not just for cricket. 

Built all the way back in the 1850s, the historic venue in Yarra Park has gone through various redevelopments over the years to bring it up to modern standards. Now ranking as the planet's second largest cricket stadium - it is second only to the Narendra Modi Stadium in the Indian city of Ahmedabad - it can host around 100,000 cricket fans.

The stadium could be set to expand even further if future plans for the arena come to fruition because there are plans to rebuild the Shane Warne Stand. 

The MCG is important as it held the first Test match in 1877 and the first One Day International (ODI) in 1971, while it has also hosted the Cricket World Cup final on two occasions as well. 

Not only is the MCG listed on the Victorian Heritage Register, it plays host to more than just cricket, with the AFL Grand Final played there and various concerts held at the stadium too. 

Melbourne Cricket Ground Pitch Report

Mostly, the MCG pitch report shows a good, balanced surface with help for both the bat and ball. A lot has changed since the 1980s, when the MCG pitch was considered to be particularly poor. 

The MCG is known for its genuine bounce early in an innings, making it tricky for openers here, but once the shine comes off the ball it becomes possible for a set batter to score more freely. 

Spinners are not particularly known for having a major impact on cricket matches at the MCG, but they do tend to be hard to score against in Twenty20 matches played at the venue. Swing bowlers are not normally that threatening at the MCG, but this is not always the case. 

Data from Cricmetric.com suggests medium pace bowlers have the highest economy rate in T20 matches at the MCG, while the lowest average on the ground belongs to leg-break bowlers. 

Just over half of T20 matches at the MCG are won by the team that is chasing down a total that has been set for them, with 47.2% of the matches won by the team batting first. 

The average first innings score for a T20 at the MCG stood at 190 in 2014, but it has come down a lot since then. In 2023, teams batting racked up an average score of just 133.5. 

Marcus Stoinis was the first batter to reach 1,000 runs scored at the MCG, partly due to the fact he plays for the Melbourne Stars, the Big Bash League team that plays home games at the 'G. 

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