We may play Carlton just one day after the cricket finishes at the MCG

[one-eyed]

Cricket averts pitch battle
Herald-Sun | Jon Ralph | January 29, 2008 12:00am

A POTENTIALLY messy MCG showdown between cricket's Pura Cup final and football's season opener has been averted after a change by Cricket Australia.

The Pura Cup's original fixture had the final finishing on March 20, the same day as the Round 1 Carlton-Richmond clash.

Victoria is in an excellent position to host the final, sitting at the top of the table with New South Wales.

Cricket Australia has brought the starting date of the five-day final forward to Saturday, March 15, which gives the MCG one day to transform from a cricket arena to a football stadium.

Should Victoria host the final, the MCG's ground staff could still have as few as 25 hours to remove the drop-in square of pitches and soften the outfield for football.

But MCC curator Tony Ware said yesterday he was certain the stadium would cope with the rapid overhaul of its playing surface.

"We have to plan that the cricket will go until 6pm or 6.30pm on March 19. We have got the capability to take all the wickets out and get it done overnight and it will be a footy field the next day," Ware said.

"There are plenty of things to do but we can get it done overnight."

Had cricket's schedule remained unaltered, the MCG may have been forced to choose which game it hosted, an unenviable decision for MCC chief executive Stephen Gough. The AFL's contract means the MCG must be available from Round 1.

The AFL kicks off its season with an unprecedented Easter Thursday double-header.

Geelong begins its title defence against grand finalist Port Adelaide at AAMI Stadium and then there is the Carlton-Richmond clash, with the Blues set to unveil star recruit Chris Judd.

While AFL clubs have traditionally been sensitive to the increased chance of injury playing on hard outfields, Ware said the MCG arena would be in perfect shape.

There is capacity to leave only one cricket pitch in the centre square to make its removal easier, but the entire centre block is likely to be kept in until the season ends.

If Victoria fails to host the final, the MCG will have 10 days to prepare for Round 1.

Ware said extensive watering would make the outfield soft enough for AFL standards.

AFL ground operations manager Jill Lindsay said the league would conduct its compulsory inspection of the MCG on March 20 but was expecting no problems.

http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,23123853-11088,00.html

[cub]

Well it is the MCG after all and not the MFG.
Sort of puts a bit of a spanner in the works for all those that want an extended season.
Maybe they could play the earlier and later games at Punt rd, Moorabin, Arden st etc
I heard VFL Park is still about the same size maybe they could chuck up a few temp stands around that ground (would probably break the drought out that way at least, if they did).
ROFLCOPTA

[mightytiges]

As long as we don't get anymore ankle injuries  . It'd screw up our whole season big time again if Simmo reinjured his ankle because the surface was too hard.

[Hellenic Tiger]

All the more reason for Terry to have the lads fired  and in a nasty mood to ram the Carlscum players headfirst into the hard turf especially Judd. 

[mightytiges]

All the more reason for Terry to have the lads fired  and in a nasty mood to ram the Carlscum players headfirst into the hard turf especially Judd. 

Let Kingy loose at them