MCG set to welcome fans back after 9 months

It’s been nearly 300 days since fans have converged on the “people’s ground”.

Melbourne Cricket Club boss Stuart Fox said the last major event the MCG hosted was the T-20 Women’s World Cup final back in March, when 80,000 fans converged on the stadium.

He said they had 9 months to plan, and the Boxing Day Test was the first major event since both lockdowns.

“I hope it does pave the way for NBL, for soccer, Australian Opening coming up, Australian Grand Prix, we’ve got BBL: there’s plenty of content to come,” he told Shane McInnes filling in for Tom Elliott.

“This is the first major event for Victoria … we are absolutely thrilled we can get it away.”

Cricket Australia has reaffirmed its commitment to giving Sydney the best chance of staging the third Test between Australia and India in the New Year.

It’s also committed to staging the fourth Test at the Gabba in Brisbane as per the original schedule.

But it says should the public health situation in NSW make Sydney untenable, its preferred contingency is to play the third Test at the MCG, followed by the fourth Test at the Gabba.

A final decision will be made during the Boxing Day Test.

Mr Fox said they are focussed on Boxing Day before thinking about hosting a second Test.

“The biggest challenge is making sure we get that pitch right, I am confident we can.

“We don’t want to be seen as a stadium to poach a Sydney Test, good luck to Sydney I hope things improve and it looks like they are.”

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