World Cup venues: Sydney Cricket Ground, Hagley Oval

Fourteen cities -- seven in Australia and seven in New Zealand – will host the event's 49 matches. Presenting a detailed look at the venues, two at a time...

January 31, 2015 03:31 am | Updated 03:56 am IST

Sydney Cricket Ground.

Sydney Cricket Ground.

11. SYDNEY

A tourist’s delight

Sydney, the capital of New South Wales, is the largest city in Australia. It is multi-cultural, with 250 languages spoken. That will become 251, when cricket will be the language spoken by a majority of the 4.7 million population during the World Cup. The city has been inhabited for around 30,000 years.

It is one of the world’s popular tourist destinations, with several attractions like Sydney Harbour, the Harbour Bridge, Sydney Opera House, and Royal National Park.

It is a great sporting city, with cricket, rugby and football among the popular ones. The 2000 Olympics it hosted is widely regarded as one of the greatest in history.

Factoid: Sydney’s economy is bigger than that of Denmark, Singapore and Hong Kong.

Sydney Cricket Ground

It is one of the world’s greatest sporting venues and only the third — the others being Lord’s and Melbourne — to have hosted more than 100 Tests. Cricket has been played there from the mid-19th century, when it was called the Garrison Ground then.

The first International match was played in 1882, when Australia took on England in a Test. The first ODI, played in 1979, featured the same teams. It has hosted 146 ODIs, only Sharjah has more.

The SCG has witnessed many memorable moments, including Sir Don Bradman’s 452 for New South Wales against Queensland in 1929-30, and Sachin Tendulkar’s 241 not out in the 2003-04 Test. The Mumbai Maestro, in fact, has named Sydney his favourite ground outside India.

It has also had a moment it would not want to remember. Phil Hughes, who was felled by a Sean Abbott bouncer in a Sheffield Shield match last November, died subsequently.

Capacity: 48,000

Playing Area: 156m long, 154m wide

Highest Total: 368/5 (Aus v SL, 2006)

Lowest Total: 63 (Ind v Aus, 1981)

Highest Score: 151 (Andrew Symonds)

Best Bowling: 5/15 (Greg Chappell)

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12. Christchurch

Christchurch, situated on either bank of the Avon River in the South Island, is the main city of the Canterbury region. The oldest city of New Zealand is a picturesque one too, with the Southern Alps providing a fetching backdrop.

It is also called the Garden City, with its vast parks and public gardens such as Hagley Park, Botanic Gardens, Victoria Square and Mona Vale. There is much to do in the city: facilities for skiing, bungee jumping, mountain biking, and wind surfing.

Christchurch, though, has had to deal with a devastating earthquake in 2011 that claimed 185 lives.

Factoid: The water in Christchurch is rated among the purest in the world.

Hagley Oval

The World Cup could not have got a more unique venue for the opening match than the Hagley Oval. With its grassy slopes, white fences and trees, it resembles an English village ground than an international stadium.

Christchurch, home to the illustrious Hadlee family, has been eagerly waiting for the World Cup ever since the ICC declared the ground fit last October. The ground was developed after Lancaster Park, which had been hosting Tests since 1930, was ravaged by the 2011 earthquake.

The ground became New Zealand’s eighth Test venue, with the Boxing Day match against Sri Lanka, in which Brendon McCullum played an astonishing innings of 195 (134b). In early 2014, it hosted its first ODI, the World Cup qualifier between Scotland and Canada. Cricket was first played at the ground a century and a half ago, though.

Capacity: 20,000

Playing Area: NA

Highest Total: 341/9 (Sco v Can, 2014)

Lowest Total: 171 (Can v Sco, 2014)

Highest Score: 175 (Calum MacLeod)

Best Bowling: 5/68 (Khurram Chohan)

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