Quick facts
| Stadium Name | Sydney Showground |
| Place, Country | Sydney Olympic Park, Australia |
| Established | 2000 |
| Seating Capacity | 23,500 |
Built to provide a new venue for the 2000 Summer Olympics, the Sydney Showground Stadium is now also known as ENGIE Stadium due to naming rights.
Baseball was the primary use of the stadium during the Olympics but it was designed to be a multi-purpose venue from the start and the ground has played home to the Big Bash League side Sydney Thunder in recent years.
Located in the Sydney Olympic Park, this cricket stadium hosts the Sydney Royal Easter Show and home games of the AFL side Greater Western Sydney Giants. ENGIE Stadium has been the name of the ground since 2024, with its former titles including Giants Stadium, Škoda Stadium when it was sponsored by the globally famous car manufacturer, then as Spotless Stadium.
Major cricket competitions such as the 2020 ICC Women's T20 World Cup have also seen T20 matches that are watched all over the planet being played at the Sydney Showground Stadium.
Our OCB guide to the Sydney Showground Stadium tells you everything you need to know.
SkodaStadiumSouthernEnd.jpg - Photo by MasterMind5991, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
Sydney Showground Stadium Pitch Report
The figures suggest that the Sydney Showground Stadium has an unpredictable pitch to work out. Some years here have seen high average scores, while others have seen very low scores.
For instance, data from Cricmetric.com suggests that the average first innings score at the Sydney Showground Stadium in 2021 was more than 170, similar to in both 2017 and 2018. However, in both 2015 and 2020, the average first innings score at the Sydney Showground Stadium was well down around the 120 mark, which suggests that it can be very tough to score heavily here.
Unusually, there appears to be no benefit to either batting first or chasing in T20 games at the Sydney Showground Stadium. Records show teams batting first in T20 matches wins 48.5% of the time, which is the same percentage as for sides chasing down a target they have been set.
Off-break bowlers have the highest T20 bowling average for matches at this Aussie stadium. As of January 2025, English batter Alex Hales is the top-scoring T20 player at the Sydney venue.
FAQs
Data from Cricmetric says that the average first innings score in T20 matches at the Sydney Showground Stadium in 2024 was 146.5, which is lower than a lot of the other BBL grounds.
Batters often struggle to score freely in T20 matches at Sydney Showground Stadium, with BBL bowlers typically able to get on top. A spongy surface is often on show at this venue as well.
Due to the city's location close to the Pacific Ocean, the Sydney Showground Stadium often has a more oceanic climate than some other Australian cities. January is Sydney's hottest month.
Recent history shows bowlers get an advantage from the Sydney Showground Stadium pitch, particularly those who can bang the ball into the surface, which has a tendency to be spongy.
