India tour of Australia: Driving the square in circles at Melbourne

14 years since it was first tried, cricket continues to be played on a transportable centre square at the MCG.

The pitches used here are all 14-years-old but still remain as durable and steadfast as ever. (Source: Reuters)

Every six months, Australia shifts from footy to cricket and back. It’s almost like a collective and seasonal shift of sporting loyalties for a country obsessed with sport—indoor, outdoor, aquatic, aerial you name it. But by the time 102,000 gather at the MCG every year—either on the final Saturday of September or the first Saturday of October—for the grand AFL final, for David Sandurksy, cricket season is already here. For, in the few hours after the gargantuan crowd has dispersed, the chief MCG groundsman would have begun his process of bringing in the drop-in cricket pitches from the area between the G and the Punt Road Oval next door.

It was on Boxing Day in 2000 that a Test match—between Australia and West Indies—was played on a portable one-piece pitch, or as Sandurksy puts it “a pitch made and preserved in a cake-tin”. The decision to do so was taken to ensure that the quality of wickets on offer for cricket didn’t get affected during footy season, and that the AFL players didn’t have to deal with a muddy centre square during their games. As experiments go, this one was a marvel. And 14 years hence, cricket continues to be played on a transportable centre square at the MCG.

“We have 10 wickets in all and we shift them out as soon as the cricket season finishes. They are retained in steel tins, 24 meters long, three meters wide and around 200 mm deep and they weigh around 30 tonne,” explained Sandursky, who’s been at the helm of affairs at the G for two years now. The same seven-member ground-staff work around the year here, even as the historic venue swings between playing home-ground to Australia, Victoria, Melbourne Stars and Melbourne Renegades to Collingwood, Hawthorn and Richmond—the four footy teams in the area.

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Sandursky himself sounds amazed about how the pitches used here are all 14-years-old but still remain as durable and steadfast as ever.

Once the pitches are moved out of the square during the winter, they are left exposed in the tins, ensuring that they have to deal with all the natural elements, from rain, the searing sun to the occasional hail storm. Sandursky and his team do tend to the pitches during these six months, but like he admits it’s not at a very extensive level. It’s more like house-keeping. It ensures that they don’t crumble much even when a lot of cricket is played on them during the season

Then comes the most important part of the whole exercise, the shifting off the pitches from their resting place behind the Punt Road Oval to the centre of the MCG. It’s a three-night affair. Permissions are sought two months prior to the transportation, and Brunton Avenue is sealed off for the four nights to ensure the safe passage of the valuable set of 22-yard turfs. The transport vehicle is a unique one, and is enormous in size, which means that the chances of breakdown are decently high. But they are accompanied by trained staff, who are in tune with its machinery, and ensure that the fourth night isn’t required.

“It’s strenuous but now we’re used to it. The only chances of a delay are if the machine breaks down. Because it’s parts are not readily available. It’s high-pressure but we get it done,” said Sandursky.

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The techonology surrounding the drop-in pitch has advanced in the last 14 years, from the days of 500 corkscrews behind used to hold it in to these days where the pitches are simply set and removed like in a baker’s shop. And since the soil used to prepare it is right here from Melbourne, it also retains the theme and behaviour of the original MCG wickets.

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