Cricket
goes indoors!
First indoor stadium at Melbourne
A. Singh |
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"Rain, rain go away ! Come again another day !"
- That's one saying that's going to be absolute in the
coming days of cricket. First it was indoor swimming pools,
then came indoor tennis, of course the huge influx of
indoor sports like snooker, billiards, table tennis became
hot favourites. After witnessing indoor athletics, one
of the very few sports that seems left out is cricket.
Well, that's no longer left to the imagination now. We
had indoor cricket training centers, and now an indoor
cricket stadium for the first time in history !
The
stunning first-time-ever indoor stadium for cricket at
Melbourne, Australia is a feast to the eyes. Australia,
the home to many other amazing pieces of architecture
now boasts of a splendid indoor stadium. Another feather
added to its cap? The Colonial stadium, as it has been
named play host to the home team of Australia and that
of South Africa.
"It's
going to be a good one-day wicket, it's probably got more
pace than what we've played on in Sri Lanka," said
the South Africans after their arrival at Australia last
week following a 1-1 result from a three Test tour of
Sri Lanka.
However,
the riskiest feature of this historic one-day series,
which is its drop-in-pitch, already appears to be a success.
The patchy and damp outfield, the bowler's run ups and
the lighting had the players wary. To ensure that the
players get a feel of the new playing conditions, the
two teams had their first training sessions at the ground
on Monday ahead of the one-day series that were to commence
only on Wednesday.
But
then again, all's well that ends well. Captain Shaun Pollock
was impressed with what he saw." They (deliveries)
were coming on beautifully, I presume it will be pretty
similar to the middle so there should not be a lot of
runs scored," said he, looking reasonably pleased.
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