What's a "drop-in pitch" and why's everyone talking about it?

[@niranjanm5942]

People are coming up with cool ways to kill test cricket...

[@lautheimpaler4686]

*coming up with

[@eternaleffect2499]

So you would rather prefer dead pitches? Drop in pitches were the reason new Zealand advanced so much in cricket

[@hamishthompson2722]

they really made a doozy with 4 day tests

[@infinity8288]

You can play football rugby and cricket easily because of drop in pitches.

[@RaghuVN]

Think about the people who got introduced to cricket. 5 days of play and there is no guarantee of a result. Not a lot of people can tolerate it. I don't believe that there is a need to kill. It is kind of dieing, I guess.

[@NaveenYadav-il5bw]

Best video ESPN has ever posted.This is what the loyal game lover would love to watch.👍👍

[@amareswarmishra6870]

Yeah man

[@8964TS]

"There's also football ..." (shows a photo of football) "Australian rules football (shows another photo of football) "And rugby" (shows a photo of Australian rules football)

[@BRNOOB_]

Ikr, it was funny to see football picture when he said australian rules football

[@Mr_Bio_Hazard]

That's American TV stations for you. 🤣🤣🤣

[@rahulballal8548]

This drop in pitch destroying cricket in Australia.Flat pitches.

[@shreyb1409]

Cric Plus and what makes you think that?

[@adelaidecrowsrdabest]

Unfortunately the grounds have to cater to the AFL games

[@1994mammo]

Adelaide and Perth had nice wickets.

[@gandharvsharma11]

its actually a challenge for all the teams including australia .. u can say its a ground zero for all

[@Kaydencool2013]

@@gandharvsharma11 when they play cricket anywhere else in the world the home team has the advantage because they know the pitches and how they will react over a 5 day period. Drop in pitches are good for t20 and 1 day games but not tests

[@anirudhavasarala]

Thank you ESPNCricinfo for the education!

[@lachd2261]

The SCG, the Gabba and Bellerieve Oval don't use drop-in pitches. It will be hard for the SCG to introduce them, because during recent renovations the SCG trust deliberately built a driveway onto the ground that was too narrow to transport a drop in pitch.

[@DBB314]

Lach D The Gabba does they play AFL there??

[@lachd2261]

@@DBB314 Yes - they play AFL on both The Gabba and SCG. But both Brisbane and Sydney are not traditionally AFL-supporting cities (Rugby is more popular), so there has not been as much pressure there for a drop-in pitch. The AFL don't like the hard centre wicket because that's where they do the start of game bounce and they believe their players will get injured.

[@morganlambley8655]

Imo I think they should start using Junction Oval for test cricket, if they keep complaining about the pitch.

[@joymajumdar8019]

No matter what.... this story tells us how serious and professional the Australian are for their sports......they desire hard quality pitches for game so that good shots and quality of a batsmen and art of shorts they play are visible. Really appreciable... every body can score in flat tracks.

[@zunayedkhan8016]

This problem only happened in Australia as the pitches are very flat. Unlike in New Zealand, drop-in pitches went on to be a revolution there, suiting a lot of fast bowlers there.

[@dutchvanderlinde2488]

drop in's are around because the afl tells cricket what to do here in aus

[@ротатоаск]

Some people need to see reason instead of rushing to blame drop in pitches. Drop-in pitches are not the problem, but how the drop-in pitch is developed by the curator. Adelaide oval is the best test venue in Australia for bowlers, and lo-and-behold - it's a drop-in pitch (one of two out of the total six test grounds in Australia).

[@Pratibha00765]

I think Mellbourne and Sydney will be the best batting pitches of the series

[@IndiaSeHaiBro]

But in sydney spinner play very crusial role

[@IndiaSeHaiBro]

@Infinite Gaming bro gabba is hardest pitch to bat

[@morganlambley8655]

Infinite Gaming Gabba is a shit stadium all round.

[@ABDULLAH-od8dn]

@@IndiaSeHaiBro Gabba used to be dead pitches but it's fun to bat on WACA Perth

[@Mr_Bio_Hazard]

Gabba is using clay instead of black soil so is the WACA I think this year.

[@VikasChaudhary-ks4jc]

Brilliant video espn.. that's the type of content we want..

[@usmanalvi-awan7817]

I've wondered for a while now, why has Australia got pitches similar in all of its venues. There were different pitches and were almost iconic to the grounds they belonged like Perth had a huge crack and Melbourne played more balanced between bat and ball and Adelaide was good for spinners. Not anymore.

[@eli_0214]

Usman Alvi-Awan The pitches around the country are still nowhere near similar

[@usmanalvi-awan7817]

@@eli_0214 looks like it to an outsider, In the years gone by, teams from the subcontinent didn't even think about winning in Australia. I guess cricket has become commercial.

[@eli_0214]

Usman Alvi-Awan Perth and Brisbane has pace and bounce. Adelaide has swing and spin. Sydney has spin. Melbourne has a bit of everything. Teams from the subcontinent still struggle to win

[@usmanalvi-awan7817]

@@eli_0214 But they are getting closer and closer.

[@0Zolrender0]

and every reply you have had is from a cheating nation. Take heart in the fact our guys got 1 year bans for something they get 1 match bans for or ignored.

[@uh5169]

4:52 when did Simon Doull become a groundsman at the waca

[@shivanshutripathy5349]

😂😂😂

[@uh5169]

@Muhammad Siddiqui you ever heard of a joke

[@DaveWhoa]

the drop-in pitch at the MCG for the NZ vs Australia Boxing Day Test 2019 was pretty good

[@anujkumarsingh7628]

Well this is the reason i consider sachin lara and ponting above todays greats kohli, smith etc. Pitches are too flat and does not help bowler at all unlike in past when batsman had to face world class bowlers in difficult playing conditions.......

[@i_am_RB]

What do you think "world class" means 😂😂?

[@piyush_sorathia]

same we can say about todays bowler, they r bowling in flat pitch,against big bat, seems they r better than older counterpart

[@shivanshutripathy5349]

So can we say that steyn and anderson are better than the likes of marshall and akram?

[@i_am_RB]

@@piyush_sorathia true....even with everything against them...bowlers like Steyn, Anderson (Tests), Bumrah, Starc (Limited Overs) are achieving better records than the bowlers of previous generations.

[@piyush_sorathia]

@@i_am_RB but people not understand about modern bowler capability, if mcgrath is in current generation,than i bet he cant be 25% of bowler actually he is

[@mikeymasi]

Shows picture of AFL and calls it rugby 🤦‍♂️

[@vikrantchaudhary4946]

I have very little knowledge of both games. May you want to explain a bit?

[@TejaaaaaaReddy]

@@vikrantchaudhary4946 watch s s rajamouli's sye movie toknow about the rugby game in a cinematic way. and AFL is australian football league. and i guess you know about football.

[@shivi0014]

sai teja reddy AFL is called Australian League Football but it is not a football league,it is like rugby with some different rules and they call it football same as in US The real football (soccer) league of Australia is called the A-League

[@dweeder1453]

who is AFL?

[@truth-seeker2]

@@dweeder1453 Australian Rules Football, Best and most popular sport in Australia if you go by statics anyway.

[@AfwaanAnsari]

2:27 so satisfying!

[@gordonbooth5354]

they are improving as can be seen in Adelaide and Perth. The concrete underlay stops water draining and made for a wet wicket at the G when WA played Vic last year.and I think removed. Natural drainage means the curator can wet the deck and make a fairer surface for bowlers and bats if they're any good and also give bats a good look at a swinging or seaming ball, same as Anderson and Broad have made good use of.in England. Also helps swing bowlers learn their trade

[@imtiazuddin4567]

Please don't destroy the beauty of Test cricket. Now a days hitting six in every ball is becoming quite boring in T20 or T10 cricket.

[@mixmmick]

The drop in wicket at Perth Stadium got pretty bloody close to the waca pitch for pace and bounce. But doesn't deteriorate like the old waca

[@kenoliver8913]

The problem with dropins is that they are grown under carefully controlled conditions in a greenhouse - and groundsmen are using that control to create utterly predictable pitches. They should be leaving more grass on them (a bit of green makes the match fairer anyway as it means winning the toss doesn't matter as much), with the occasional variation of a Mumbai-style sandy beach or a rock hard compacted clay base.

[@Eltoruafreak]

India vs Australia 2018 series,though the series is lively to watch. All three pitches behaved odd time and again. Unpredictable, uneven bounce.. Expecting a stable pitch in sydney..

[@khantk2732]

New Zealand are preparing perfectly sporting drop-in pitches in Eden Park, Auckland.

[@ItsOneInAMillion]

Actually, the rule for banning poor pitches only came in from 1st of Jan this year. So the MCG was very lucky on that they still have a warning before the boxing day test gets taken away from them.

[@Mr_Bio_Hazard]

That will never happen.

[@raghuram2746]

VERY INFORMATIVE!!!!!!!!!!!

[@iamsandaru]

The recent Boxing Day Test at MCG ended in 3 days 😁

[@huzaifleghari1433]

Takes away the natural beauty of the game

[@leftfield5914]

It's pretty dumb messing with anything natural

[@humungous09]

Hate the drop-in wkts.. Perth n Melbourne aren't the same pacy tracks when McGrath, Gillespie and Lee played over there..

[@saitejapanduri923]

You told that you are going to make a mini feature on drop-in during Perth test and You did it.👏👏👍

[@sathivlog7097]

Drop in pitches will make to lose the original status of test match wickets. It suits odi or twenty 20 not test matches. Test matches have to give assitance to bowling as well as good batting if you are a good bowler or technically sound batsman

[@ianb4801]

Pitch for the 2019 Boxing Day test was a beauty so not all doom and gloom. The MCG stop-ins have suffered mostly because, excluding a short-lived implementation at Waverley during the start of World Series Cricket, the concept was totally different. As well, huge changes of the playing surface happened for the Commonwealth Games, where it was made flat instead of crowned, and with active drainage. Also, prior to the drop-ins, the pitches were as dull as hell, so there was not a good formula to work from. Newer pitches are now being bedded on sand instead of concrete, which is just experience shining through; the Perth pitches have clearly benefitted from this learning, so progress is happening. Simple fact of life is that, despite it's heritage, the MCG is the home of Aussie Rules football, not cricket, and off-season pitches are pretty lethal to footballers as the playing surfaces, particularly the pitches themselves, are just too hard, too changeable and conducive of ACL injuries. The pitches are often just too dangerous. ps, when removed, the area or the pitches are covered with real grass, NOT fake, as the latter would be just as dangerous as the pitches.

[@MrExEssex]

Everyone was certainly not talking about the drop-in pitch. I didn't even know what it was but was made curious to find out. Now I know. Thanks ESPN.

[@Gluffy-G]

You'd think that something like this would allow the pitch makers to customize the pitches with more variations - solution is simple, lose the steel box and replace it with something like wire mesh or even better, something that also deteriorates with time and wear.

[@jamiemansfield9430]

At least aussie only has one or two of these pitches. NEW ZEALAND on the other hand has EVERY pitch like this. The first 2 sessions are good for fast bowlers then after that it becomes a batsmans paradise.

[@cbelogu]

Very informative. Looking forward to more of this kind of educational videos.

[@irtifairshad2646]

If they use the same composition of soil the Stadium's region...then they should be used and innovation should continue

[@rajavardhanmothkuri2334]

Perth pitch is a true test match pitch

[@TejaaaaaaReddy]

but the last game at perth was little boring because of the slight lack of life in the perth pitch.

[@rajavardhanmothkuri2334]

sai teja reddy it wasn’t boring for me

[@karthikbs9482]

@@TejaaaaaaReddy lol what match u were watching? It had everything for everyone... One of the most exciting test matches

[@zunayedkhan8016]

sai teja reddy well it is because it was not the WACA ground....

[@WSTRNS]

@@TejaaaaaaReddy that's a different ground, a new one.

[@FawadBilgrami]

Consistency is breaking cricket. The game was fun when there were so many variables in the game. Soon Test Cricket will be like prolonged T20 matches unfortunately.

[@HarpreetSingh-oz8hf]

Cricket Australia needs to do something to get their pitches like how it used to be. When you play in Australia, you have to taste extra pace and bounce like you have to counter spin in Indian conditions. This is what it means to have home advantage when you’re playing at home and this is the test for the visiting teams. If the visiting teams can get over this challenge, they can be really proud winners. This is why England’s test victory in India in 2012-13 tour was massive as they played on rank turners and won 2 tests despite losing both those tosses. This is the challenge that the visiting teams should face in all conditions.

[@mirzashakeel7074]

Cricket is suffering from these measures taken in favour of batsmen.

[@cspatel860]

Well leaving the effect hats off to cricket Australia thats a very genuine effort for a unbiased game.

[@jontyrosenow9396]

1:48 - 1:53 You can exclude soccer and rugby from this, the premier stadiums in Australia only really host Australian Football during the winter/spring

[@zachb1706]

Jonty Rosenow and rugby on the odd occasion

[@dirtythetroll9460]

1:49 "they host football" shows football "AFL" shows football "Rugby" shows AFL

[@zachbeckham6520]

I have no idea how cricket is played or what it is but yet i found this in my recommended and watched it all anyway

[@vkvishvendra]

Got it in my recommendation after Motera Test😁

[@leroyjenkens2059]

I don't like the idea of the drop in pitches, but what they did with the new stadium in Perth, was one of the best pitches I have ever seen. If all drop ins turn out that good, I don't see a problem

[@AlonsoRules]

someone needs to dig up these stupid drop ins and return to traditional pitches

[@lautheimpaler4686]

@@grievuspwn4g3 tell those fools to get their own ground.

[@westwalk9953]

Lau XI AFL is Australias National sport and is played far more then cricket locally,nationally-everywhere. It has a millions of spectators,players and is crucial for the Australian economy. So how about no . Cricket will always come second.

[@Fluggegecheimen69]

Aussie Rules is the main priority and money maker at the MCG, Adel Oval and Perth Stadium. Cricket will be second fiddle for as long as this remains the case.

[@jd0192]

Lau XI 5 days of cricket a year vs 50+ games of footy a year that makes so much more money than cricket? Don’t be a fool.

[@littleworld9632]

@@jd0192 have u heard t20

[@ishmamchowdhury7134]

WACA was the best pitch typically more Australian like but that was axed :( though the new Optus Stadium pitch so far looked promising as well

[@genala792]

As far as I know the both grounds have the same keeper. Actually, the present keeper's father also was a keeper of WACA.

[@AmanRai-ep1gz]

People are just complaining about drop-in pitches and giving advice about returning to traditional pitches...See you guys need to understand, there are many outdoor sports which needs ground and every nation can not afford unique grounds for unique sport...Just in case take NEW ZEALAND for eg. It's a small island nation with less territorial area and many outdoor sports, this makes the drop-in pitches come into play.

[@mrnobody1255]

Well it looks like a real flat deck on the first day of the test today.... let's see what it turns out to be on the 4th and 5th day

[@ericcartman8694]

this is another reason why cricket should have stayed at the WACA in perth instead of moving to optus

[@pauleewright8765]

Drop ins are fine if they are made to have pace, bounce and turn on them

[@mikeobrien9829]

Not 80,000 people go to the Boxing Day test, over 80,000 go on day one alone, the boxing days test finances the rest of Australian cricket, normal crowd would be over 250,000 for a 5 day test

[@sandeepunni1663]

They are pretty much roads

[@jecos1966]

The black soil gets very slippery in the wet so wet Australian Rules Football Players play on it can course injuries

[@bd11777]

MCG is the worst test venue in Aus imo. Lowest amount of boundaries in world test cricket due to outfield size and poor atmosphere. Feels like ur sat miles away from the action.

[@dwaipayandattaroy9801]

Todays pitch for deuce boll's action needs hammering like a bat , though with a hammer of square wide surface area, so does need a drop in pitch i think from todays exposure and outcome experience

[@Rohanbhal_30]

the new drop ins are pretty good now in aus

[@afghankhan8700]

I love Australian grounds

[@comeatmebro3229]

Drop in pitches can work though, Adelaide is probably the best ground and pitch to play cricket on in the world and thats a drop in pitch.

[@Thejay120]

Adelaide is a shithole nothing beats the mcg

[@ojasdighe991]

@@Thejay120 hope you saw the pink ball test vs ind

[@ojasdighe991]

What a great adelaide wicket that was

[@Sanhiriyan]

Such a big country. You should have separate stadiums for different sports to maintain authenticity don’t you think?

[@pommesdeterrevapeur]

It is like saying if you have enough room, you should have a different desk for each different task you do at work. It is a nice solution, but it costs a lot, takes a lot of space. Of course it is the best solution but it is also the hardest to implement. It cannot be done everywhere.

[@Sanhiriyan]

Adil Mohammad Would have agreed if it were an Asian country where bureaucracy is heavily involved, but I guess Australia is much more transparent and invests heavily in all sports unlike Asian cricketing nations where cricket takes the cake. If you look at AFL and rugby the crowd is as heavy as cricket and they can as well invest in the stadium. You think I didn’t think about your logic before I put in the comment? The name of the stadium is MCG and I do not have to let you know what C stands for!

[@pommesdeterrevapeur]

@@Sanhiriyan Totally agree, in Asian countries it is a very different story. I gave it another thought and came up with this : we are talking about Australia so as you mentioned Rugby is also an important part of the culture. But in my opinion Australia does not have any problem when it comes to money. Sure they could invest and make infrastructures for AFL, soccer and rugby, and name the MAFLG, MSG and MRG. But none of these new infrastructures can be built on a spot as good as the one the MCG stands on. It is in the middle of the city at a great location. I think that's the reason why they did not come up with new stadiums when these sports gained importance in the country. For cricket, it is not a suitable solution, but for sports in general, I guess Melbourne benefits from having a single place that hosts all the big sports events. Sure it is called the MCG, but at the time they built it AFL for example did not even exist so...

[@Sanhiriyan]

Adil Mohammad when people from their own fraternity are complaining then there exists a problem. Moreover cricket becomes artificial when you replace the pitch. Not sure what your inference is but while you agree it’s possible you aren’t committing a solution. Sure, the stadium is in the center of the city but that wasn’t the case when the stadium was built long time ago. City keeps expanding and I am sure wherever it’s built the stadium will well be a part of the city tomorrow. When I am commenting about cricket it better be a solution that holds good for cricket, after all that’s what we are here for!

[@pommesdeterrevapeur]

@@Sanhiriyan I understand your concern, I relate to that as well. I have always been sceptical about the drop-in pitches, but recently I tried to get to know the thought process of the people in charge. It is foolish to think that some more experimentation on these fake pitches will help to get closer to the behavior of a natural one. Sure I cannot give a reasonable solution to the problem. The only one that comes to my mind is to return to natural pitches, and try to grow grass on it and fill it with patches of grass if needed. But I am sure it is not as simple as that alas

[@no-dogma]

I think these are perfect pitches for a timeless test

[@SportsEternity]

why there's no cricket in australia in winters ? its not like every single ground turns into AFL.. there's a ground in darwin , manuka oval and some other small one's

[@truth-seeker2]

Who going to play in Winter? You have to deal with Rain and competition of Winter sports, I doubt they make enough money off TV + Crowds to justify playing cricket. As for First Class players.. The good ones play in England County cricket system during our Winter which pays alot more then Shield. Others who financially sound might go overseas and play club cricket in England ect, for more experience

[@SportsEternity]

@@truth-seeker2 i was checking Future tours program And there was a Series vs Zimbabwe in Australia in June.. so How would that happen ?

[@truth-seeker2]

@@SportsEternity Australia has obligation to help teams like Zimbabwe develop cricket but it's not inforced that's why we only played Zim and Bangladesh like once at home in past 20 years. The board doesn't want to take loss in profit.. So if they must you could host 1 test match series in Darwin for example and hope crowd comes to aleast fill some of that 10,000 seat ground but Tv rights would be too expensive. In situation like this they play test early so it's doesn't interfere with Summer,

[@DS-Pakaemon]

Ahhhh, so we are getting ready for boring matches now.

[@krislo4788]

we are!😑

[@anuragbanjare4429]

Thats why india loves playing at mcg

[@scottcross3252]

What if they just made the Drop ins wider.....so the materials won't be as compact and will be softer with more wear in the middle ?

[@Mr_Bio_Hazard]

Cricket. The only game to play. Beats AFL, Rugby and Soccer hands down. I just love the game in all it's forms.

[@dharmender4885]

I hate drop in pitch

[@veer_trivedi]

Thank-you for this video.

[@MrShahidalileghari]

Nice explanation

[@Vector_0x]

Since the pitch isn't reacting they are using sand paper instead. Aus team are so innovative.

[@werdnarotcorp8991]

The real issue is with multi-purpose stadia like the MCG. The Americans realized last century that the multi-purpose stadium did not work and since then all but one have been replaced by fields that are specific for a given sport. In addition I hate a massive stadium for cricket because it rarely seems full (the same argument goes for baseball too). It is bewildering to me that Perth has built a massive new stadium with no character and given up on the WACA, which has more character and a better surface. Cricket pitches should be quirky and have grass mounding if possible (Newlands, Cape Town) and money alone should not be what drives stadium updates.

[@deaddoll1361]

Cricket and Australian rules football are inextricably linked in Australia, since the football code came from cricket and was played on cricket grounds since its inception. The Perth Stadium isn't massive, it holds 60,000 people. There are many bigger stadiums around the world. The WACA is still used for cricket, however they "gave up" on it for some games because it only holds 15,000 people and there's not much in the way of covered seating. When the temperature is over 40 degrees in the shade, it's an awful experience for spectators in the open, without even considering the archaic stands and facilities. It's hard to explain to 25,000 people that they can't buy tickets to the game because it's sold out, while the new, taxpayer funded stadium sits empty across the river. While waxing lyrical about character, bear in mind that the spectator experience is important, as cricket crowds have been dropping for some time.

[@zachb1706]

The waves was a pain to go to, no parking, no connection to public transport, most of the seats aren’t covered and on hot 40 degree days it feels a lot like an oven. Great ground, not good enough for a growing city

[@TheRausing1]

Can someone explain how a pitch can possibly be “too flat”?

[@cracker0291]

India should import some green bouncy pitches from England

[@lautheimpaler4686]

If you watch Ranji Trophy, then you'd know that India actually has a lot of green and bouncy pitches. But they're not used for test matches.

[@y.abhinandan1525]

India has their own kind of pitch and it's especially suited for spinners. I don't think they will change that at all

[@WSTRNS]

why!!! what's the obsession with u guys of bouncy tracks?!! did Aus or Eng cry about not having spinning tracks!! they also fails miserably at our grounds but never cry about their home tracks. every country has their own kind of pitches, Eng had swing, Aus and Nz has pace and bounce, pak pitches are heaven for batting, just like those we have our own kind of pitches. our obsession of bouncy tracks at our home ground causing poor spin batting, in last 5 years we have lost so many games to opposition spinners, and that too spinners like lyon, rashid, moeen ali etc 2nd class quality bowlers. spinners like warne murli never had that much impact on our batsmen like this guys have.

[@avinashnavani5488]

England does not have bouncy pitches. They have pitches that have tons swing and movement. Pace/bounce wickets are found in South Africa, Australia, and West Indies. In fact, Australian pitches in recent times (excluding the WACA/Perth Stadium) have not had as much pace/bounce as there was in the past. If you saw the 2017 India-Aus test in Dharamsala (4th test), that pitch had a LOT of pace and bounce - watch Yadav and Kumar's opening spells in Australia's second innings. Even the 1st SL test in 2017 in India had tons of pace for Kumar. India is changing and is definitely opening up to the idea of having seam wickets because now they have a strong and very effective pace battery.

[@Shaun81000]

@@WSTRNS What are you talking about? India are virtually indestructible at home. They've got amazing players of spin no doubt. But like Australia, where WACA is pace and bounce and SCG/Adelaide are more spin friendly, India needs to have venues with more variety. For example, Mumbai/Chennai can have spin whereas somewhere like Kolkata/Dharamsala or any other suitable venues have green or bouncy pitches. It will just add to the excitement given how big India is and its different climates in different region. (Plus they'll be able to win more overseas also)

[@rambhattacharjee1850]

Droping pitches are okay but it behaves un usually some times because of preparation outside the stadium conditions. This time also a schefield shield game is abondoned . But the match against NZ - Test Match recently , holds good

[@shitijmalhotra4598]

Technically, Statue of Liberty is in New Jersey!

[@subhadeepdas7556]

Ok boomer

[@TipuSultan-bh9fe]

ICC Needs To Take A Step And Banned This Flater Drop-In Pitches

[@ghufranmuhammad5432]

They should do something about the flatness of the drop-in pitches, else they are far better than the cracked ones.

[@hameedhularshadh8288]

Australian pitches are known for their uniqueness. Pitches in each Venue had its own character. Now they are all similar. Cricket australia lost the plot here.

[@arkotalukder6801]

Why they allow rugby and soccer to play at those iconic cricket stadium... Like will England host cricket at etihad stadium?

[@zlatan379]

They don't have another stadium. A new one cost a lot..

[@mistergnat638]

cricket is just too bland for the average Aussie compared to quicker more aggressive sports like AFL, Rugby or soccer

[@arkotalukder6801]

Mister Gnat understood... May be my love for cricket made me think the other way... But i love those ausie cricket grounds esp MCG

[@benwhite6261]

Most times, the cricket stadiums don’t host rugby or soccer, only on rare occasions. AFL however, is played at Perth Stadium and Adelaide Oval 22 times a year +finals. SCG 11 times a year +finals. Gabba 11 times a year. The MCG hosts football about 50 times a year, and gets big crowds. Compare this to international cricket, where there is 3 or so games a season. It is only feasible to use the oval ground for it. It is also just as much the home of Aussie rules as much as cricket. If one was to go, (which neither will) it would be cricket.

[@99TJS1]

@@arkotalukder6801 soccer isn't played at the MCG unless Real madrid or Barca or something come over. It's mainly AFL which takes precedence because it regularly brings in crowds. Cricket will bring in crowds maybe 1 or 2 days a year. If any sport had to make way it would be cricket, just not fiscally important enough in AUS.

[@Zephym]

American here. Cricket is the most bizarre, impenetrable sport on the planet. What is happening? I don't know.

[@sparsh05]

Yes extremely confusing to someone who has never heard about it before. And its actually the second most popular sport.

[@aruns6738]

Rip

[@jaikantyadav747]

Thanks a lot

[@Bagg1e5]

what did they do before drop in pitches. wasnt aussie rules/football/rugby still played?

[@pauleewright8765]

Let's hope the SCG as a natural pitch

[@umeshsidhaye1396]

Good info..

[@donrobertson4940]

No please don't mention the last (2019) boxing day test.

[@lukealadeen7836]

Why dont they make the steel frames larger?

[@akashk4270]

I think the materials matter..with what they construct..as Adelaide don't disappoint

[@Hezoyam10]

Gabba pitch is perfect

[@fiddlestickzmuzik]

Australia is determined to ruin cricket, pink balls, day night tests, flat boring dull drop in pitches, the Kookaburra ball etc etc.. where's the tradition gone..?

[@lololol678]

Day night tests are fucking sick man. Fuck the BCCI for not playing them!

[@sibghatmansoor5125]

So drop in pitches are too flat says legend macgrath.and ramiz raja wants drop in pitches in Pakistan.

[@aussiepie4865]

The pitches are not covered with “artificial turf.” This video is very poorly researched.

[@Sagar_Patelv28]

Drop in pitches should be improved but not discarded Bcoz ther are other games too unlike India , Pakistan , Srilanka , Bangladesh Aus, NZ have other games like football , rugby hence for timesaving and space saving drop in pitches is not that bad.

[@beardan76]

Says one sport and shows another!

[@dylanhoyle4401]

Still an absolute fucking road this year

[@FawadBilgrami]

Hmm, only 2 wickets lost on the first day of the Boxing Day Test with India. Seems pretty flat to me.

[@mikespearwood3914]

Very different today! (day three)

[@keysa1219]

Problem Australia Cant Buy A Few None Cricket Stadiums.

[@TheCinderellaman10]

I'll take that road to wherever I go

[@thrita8349]

And yet we (Aus) still can't make a decent score on these pitches 🤦‍♂️

[@SportsEternity]

AFL Brings money and crowd in australia and not cricket... Maybe BBL will bring money in future but until then its AFL