Marvel madness: Cricket should expect better than what AFL’s stadium served up

Cricket Australia and the AFL were in communication either side of the game. The AFL was contacted for comment.

Cricket Australia said of the conditions: “The league and clubs work closely with all venues to ensure they meet all required standards, including outfields. There are many tenants and events at Marvel Stadium, with extensive foot traffic over the outfield in the period immediately prior to the BBL.

“As is standard procedure, match officials inspected the venue on Sunday. While there are bare patches on the outfield, it was deemed safe for play. Both teams also trained at the venue on Sunday. We anticipate the outfield will continue to improve ahead of the remaining BBL14 matches at the venue.”

Cricket has had a long and chequered history at the stadium in Melbourne’s Docklands, dating back to a series of games between Australia and South Africa under the retractable roof in 2000.

But its ownership by the AFL and a business model leaning heavily on the staging of concerts and other major events at the venue means that cricket currently sits a distant third on the stadium’s list of priorities. That is a problem for Cricket Australia, because cricket needs two BBL venues in Melbourne.

For Greenberg, there will be an imperative to build up cricket’s relationship with the AFL. That will have to come through commanding respect as much as offering conciliatory words.

It is true that in recent times, footy and cricket have had a number of episodes where one has aided the other. The most recent deal signed between the AFL and cricket over use of the MCG gave football more year-on-year access early in the season, unless cricket had a major event to play: World Cup finals in March, or the 2027 150th anniversary Test match between Australia and England.

And the two sports have also aligned over the need for the Queensland government to find a better solution for an oval stadium in Brisbane, between the decline of the Gabba and the fast-approaching 2032 Olympics.

Nevertheless, the AFL’s surge well ahead of other sports in terms of match and broadcast revenue has at times been accompanied by a sense that the league likes to think of itself as the only game in town, or in the country.

That can be an easier viewpoint to hold when operating without the kinds of international pressures that are ever present in cricket. Dillon’s predecessor Gillon McLachlan was seen as a gifted chief executive and negotiator, but even he may have struggled with relations between India and Pakistan, or Taliban control of Afghanistan.

Aside from Marvel, the scheduling clash of AFLW against the WBBL is another obvious area for Greenberg to address with Dillon. Growing women’s sport should be a matter of collaboration rather than code wars.

Ultimately, cricket and the AFL should have a mutually beneficial alliance. Their histories are deeply intertwined, and they share common venue needs that should allow – as is the case at Adelaide Oval or the MCG – for providing a quality stage on which the best players can perform in either sport.

Mottled Marvel was anything but that on Monday night; Greenberg should expect better.

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