9. Canberra
It was selected for the location of the Australian capital as a compromise between Sydney and Melbourne, the nation’s two largest cities.
With a population nearing 400,000, it is Australia’s eighth-largest city and the seat of parliament.
The capital has a number of national monuments like the Australian War Memorial, National Museum, and National Gallery.
Canberra is also home to the Australian Institute of Sport, which churns out a number of the country's Olympic medallists.
Factoid: Canberra is a fully planned city, not dissimilar to Brasilia or Washington DC.
Manuka Oval
Canberra is not one of cricket’s hotbeds in Australia, and the Manuka Oval hasn’t really seen much international cricket. The ground has hosted only four ODIs to date, the first of them in the 1992 World Cup, when Zimbabwe played South Africa.
The Manuka Oval has, for long, been the home of the annual Prime Minister’s XI match against touring sides, a contest conceptualised by the former PM and devoted cricket fan, Robert Menzies.
Besides being used by teams in the Australian Capital Territory, the ground is also occasionally home to New South Wales, and was the venue for the 2014 Sheffield Shield final and the 2015 BBL final. Aussie rules football is also played here during winter.
Occupying a corner of the ground is the old Jack Fingleton scoreboard, relocated from the MCG in the 1980s and named after “the late Australian opening batsman who made his career as a political journalist in the corridors of Parliament House, just kilometres away.”
Incidentally, Fingleton features in the first recorded match played at the Oval, turning out for a club called the Wayfarers against the Federal Capital Territory on 19 April, 1930. He was out leg-before for one.
Capacity: 13,000
Playing area: 179.0m long, 150.0m wide
Highest total: 329/7 (Aus vs WI, 2013)
Lowest total: 163 (Zim vs SA, 1992)
Highest score: 122 (Shane Watson)
Best bowling: 4/32 (Mitchell Starc)
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10. Napier
Napier is a port city on New Zealand’s North Island, with a population of just over 60,000. Situated on Hawke's Bay, it is the primary seaport for the hinterland, which has apple, pear, grape, wine, and wool production areas.
On 3 February, 1931 a massive earthquake - 7.9 on the Richter scale - struck the area, lasting about three minutes. The majority of buildings in the town's commercial centre were destroyed, while an estimated 260 people died.
The buildings were reconstructed in the Art Deco style, explaining their presence in large numbers today. The town is named after Sir Charles Napier, a general who conquered Sindh for the British Empire with victory in the Battle of Miani.
McLean Park
Located less than four degrees west of the International Date Line, McLean Park is the world’s most easterly Test ground. Like most stadiums in the region, it’s home to both rugby and cricket, with tenants including Central Districts and Hawke’s Bay Rugby Union.
McLean Park hosted its first ODI in March 1982. India played here last year, when a blistering Virat Kohli hundred went in vain.
Established in 1911, the ground was redeveloped ahead of the 2011 Rugby World Cup which the All Blacks won. In 2009, ahead of India’s second Test, a fungus affected the designated pitch, forcing ground-staff to prepare a neighbouring surface. It didn’t bother India a great deal, though, as hundreds from Gautam Gambhir and V.V.S. Laxman earned it a draw.
Capacity: 22,500
Playing area: NA
Highest total: 373/8 (NZ vs Zim, 2012)
Lowest total: 126 (Pakistan vs NZ, 2004)
Highest score: 141 n.o. (Ricky Ponting)
Best bowling: 5/30 (M. Muralitharan)
