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TELFORD VICE, Melbourne
IT is world cricket’s biggest, brashest arena and yet it has never been full for a cricket match. It is the most cavernous stadium in the southern hemisphere, and it harbours the tallest floodlight towers in all of sport.
It has hosted evangelist Billy Graham - whose visit in 1959 holds the attendance record of 143 750 - pope John Paul II, the 1956 Olympics, and the 1992 cricket World Cup final, and it is the field of dreams for those who aspire to play in the Aussie Rules grand final: since 1902, only five have been played elsewhere.
It is the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), and it is where SA will take on India in their World Cup showdown on Sunday.
What with a steady stream of guided tours traversing the enormous stands and an expansive museum of the heroes and history of Australian sport nestled in its bowels, the MCG could seem more theme park than stadium. But it is as a cricket venue that it is best known.
SA have a patchy history at the MCG. They have won 10 of their 23 matches there across all formats, and lost 11. They have never played India there, and their record against non-Australian teams at the ground does not tell us much - they lost a round-robin match to England by three wickets off the second-last ball of the match in the 1992 World Cup, and beat New Zealand by eight wickets in the first final of a triangular series in February, 2002.
Melbourne Cricket Ground ODIs - 140 (January, 1971 - February, 2015)
Highest total: 344/8 (ICC World XI v Asia XI - January 10, 2005)
Lowest total: 94 (England v Australia - Jan 24, 1979)
Highest score: Mark Waugh 173 (Australia v West Indies - February 9, 2001)
Best bowling: Ajit Agarkar 6/42(India v Australia, January 9, 2004)
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