 | |
 The Menzies, Bradman and Hawke stands (left to right), pictured in 2006 | |
 | |
| Former names | Manuka Circle Park (before enclosed) |
|---|---|
| Location | Griffith,Australian Capital Territory (Map) |
| Coordinates | 35°19′5″S149°08′5″E / 35.31806°S 149.13472°E /-35.31806; 149.13472 |
| Owner | ACT Government |
| Operator | Territory Venues and Events |
| Capacity | 15,000 (overall)[1] 13,550 (seated)[2] 12,000 (cricket)[3] |
| Record attendance | 15,807 (1985, Prime Minister's XI v. West Indies)[4] |
| Field size | 162 m × 138 m (531 ft × 453 ft)[5] |
| Surface | Legend (cricket square) Santa Ana (outfield) |
| Scoreboard | Jack Fingleton Scoreboard |
| Construction | |
| Broke ground | 1926 |
| Built | 1929 (enclosed) |
| Tenants | |
List
| |
| Website | |
| manukaoval.com.au | |
 | |
| Ground information | |
| Country | Australia |
| End names | |
| Pool End Manuka End | |
| International information | |
| Only Test | 1–4 February 2019: Australia v Sri Lanka |
| First ODI | 10 March 1992: South Africa v Zimbabwe |
| Last ODI | 6 February 2024: Australia v West Indies |
| First T20I | 5 November 2019: Australia v Pakistan |
| Last T20I | 14 October 2022: Australia v England |
| Only women's Test | 27–30 January 2022: Australia v England |
| First WODI | 7 December 1988: Australia v New Zealand |
| Last WODI | 3 February 2022: Australia v England |
| First WT20I | 16 January 2011: Australia v England |
| Last WT20I | 28 January 2024: Australia v South Africa |
| As of 6 February 2024 Source:Cricinfo | |
Manuka Oval is a sporting venue inCanberra, the capital of Australia. It is located inGriffith, in the area of that suburb known asManuka. Manuka Oval has a seating capacity of 13,550 people and an overall capacity of 16,000 people, although this is lower for some sports depending on the configuration used.[1][2] The area on which the ground is situated has been used for sport since the early 20th century, but was only enclosed in 1929. It has since undergone several redevelopments, most recently beginning in 2011.
Currently, Manuka Oval is primarily used forcricket (during the summer months) andAustralian rules football (during the winter months). The ground was previously also used forrugby league andrugby union matches, but there are now more suitable venues in Canberra for those sports. As a cricket ground, Manuka Oval is the home venue for theACT Comets (men's) and theACT Meteors (women's) teams, and has also hosted a number of international matches, including at the1992 and2015 World Cups. As an Australian rules football ground, Manuka Oval's primary tenant is theEastlake Football Club, which plays in theNorth East Australian Football League (NEAFL). Australian Football League (AFL) games are played at the ground on a semi-regular basis. TheGreater Western Sydney Giants have used the oval as a secondary home ground since the club entered the AFL in 2012 andAFL Women's in 2017. Other AFL clubs had previously hosted games at the venue, most notably theNorth Melbourne Football Club from 1998 to 2006.
The oval was originally a park officially known as "Manuka Circle Park", however by the end of the 1920s it was known as Manuka Oval. The park and nearbyshopping centre were named after theLeptospermum scoparium'sMāori name, Manuka. There was a push for the park to become an enclosed oval starting in 1926 by various sports groups.[6] Work began on Manuka Oval to erect a fence, along with other improvements made in 1929. The field had previously been used to casually playrugby league and Australian rules football. The first cricket pitch was played on in April 1930. The Bradman Pavilion, the oval's main stand, was constructed in 1962 in honour ofSir Donald Bradman. TheRobert Menzies Stand and theBob Hawke Stand were constructed in 1987 and 1992 respectively and were named after the first twoAustralian Prime Ministers to bring international cricket teams to Canberra to play against thePrime Minister's XI.[7] In 2004, Manuka Oval celebrated the 75th anniversary of its formal establishment.
Manuka Oval had a $4.3 million upgrade starting from the second half of 2011, which included 4,300 additional temporary seats for the venue, new media and corporate facilities, upgrades to the Hawke and Bradman stands' covering and upgrades to entry facilities.[8][9] Floodlights were installed at the ground in late 2012 to allow sport to be played at the venue at night, and were first used on 29 January 2013 for a day-night cricket match between theWest Indies and the Prime Minister's XI.[10]
The AFL, through a private consortium, made an $800 million bid to upgrade the precinct in 2018 and expand the seating capacity by 4,750 with covered areas, however the ACT government rejected the proposal.[11][12]
The first cricket match to be played at the oval was onEaster Monday, 13 April 1930.[6] ThePrime Minister's XI is played at the oval annually. It was started by Robert Menzies in 1951, and there were six more matches up to 1965 in his term as prime minister. The match was brought back in 1984 by Bob Hawke and has been played annually since. In 1992, the ground hosted its firstOne Day International (ODI) match betweenSouth Africa andZimbabwe as part of the1992 Cricket World Cup, but otherwise remained largely unused for top level cricket.
In 2015, the ground hosted threeOne Day International (ODI) matches betweenBangladesh andAfghanistan,West Indies andZimbabwe,South Africa andIreland as part of the2015 Cricket World Cup.
The ground is home to theCanberra Comets, who played in theMercantile Mutual Cup from the 1997–98 season to the 1999–2000 season; the team now plays in theFutures League.
Manuka Oval held its second ODI, and its first as part of a normal international tour, on 12 February 2008 betweenIndia andSri Lanka in theAustralian tri-series;[13] and it hosted its first international match featuringAustralia on 6 February 2013, in which Australia defeated theWest Indies by 39 runs.[14] Top level domestic cricket also returned to the ground from 2011 to 2012, with theNew South Wales Blues for three seasons playing aSheffield Shield andRyobi One Day Cup match each season;[9] and, the ground hosted the 2013/14 Sheffield Shield final, because theSydney Cricket Ground was unavailable due to aMajor League Baseball series.[15]
The venue sought to host its firstTest match in the year 2013 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the establishment of the city of Canberra, however, the request was not granted.[16]
The ground hosted the final of the2014–15 T20 Big Bash on 28 January 2015. The first regular season BBL game was held on 24 January 2018 when theSydney Thunder hosted theMelbourne Renegades. The firstWBBL game at the venue was held on the same day.[17]
In April 2018, it was confirmed that the Manuka Oval would host its first ever Test match inFebruary 2019.[18] The match was held from 1 to 5 February 2019 between Australia and Sri Lanka, where four Australian batsmen made centuries.[19]
The most runs scored here in ODI format is byAaron Finch (348 runs), followed byDavid Warner (265 runs) andHashim Amla (261 runs). The most wickets taken here is byMitchell Starc (7 wickets).
Manuka Oval was the home ground of theManuka Football Club, anAustralian Capital Territory Football League club, from 1928 to 1991, when it merged with theEastlake Football Club. The merged club, which retained the Eastlake name, continues to play home games at Manuka Oval, both inAFL Canberra competitions and in theNorth East Australian Football League (NEAFL).
The oval has served as an occasional venue forAustralian Football League matches since 1998, and a permanent home venue since 2012.
 | This graph was using thelegacy Graph extension, which is no longer supported. It needs to be converted to thenew Chart extension. |
Between 1998 and 2006, theNorth Melbourne Football Club, hosted a total of eighteen matches at the venue, playing three games per season from 2001 onwards.[20]Brent Harvey was the only player to have played all 18 AFL games featuring the Kangaroos played at Manuka Oval.
From 2007 until 2009, theMelbourne Demons and theWestern Bulldogs each played a home match against the Sydney Swans at the venue; the Bulldogs continued this arrangement in 2010 and 2011.[21][22]
Since 2012, the newly establishedGreater Western Sydney Giants have played three home-and-away matches and one pre-season match at the ground each year.[23] The club's first ever AFL win, against theGold Coast Suns inRound 7, 2012, took place at this venue.[24] The record crowd for the ground was set when 14,974 attended for the match between the Giants and Richmond, a game the Giants won by 88 points holding Richmond to their lowest score, 3.5 (23). The women's team also plays one home-and-away match at Manuka Oval during theAFL Women's season; their opponents in the 2017 and 2018 matches played in Canberra were, on both occasions, theWestern Bulldogs. Manuka Oval also hosts the home matches of theBelconnen Magpies andEastlake Demons in theNorth East Australian Football League competition as well as all eastern conference finals.
For three seasons beginning with the2013 AFL season, Manuka Oval was branded asStarTrack Oval during Australian rules football matches.[25] The naming rights deal expired in early 2016.[26] Since 2017 until 2020 the venue has commercially been known as theUNSW Canberra Oval.[27]
As of 2019,Jeremy Cameron holds the record for the most AFL goals kicked at Manuka Oval, kicking 49 goals.[28]
The second game of the1948 Great Britain Lions tour was played at the Oval as the touring side beat theGroup 8 Rugby League representative side 45–12.[29] During the1951 French rugby league tour of Australia and New Zealand, Les Chanticleers played a game at the oval against a Monaro side that attracted approximately 5,000 spectators. Manuka Oval hosted oneNational Rugby League game on 26 May 2001 with theCanberra Raiders moving their game to the ground because of a clash with theACT Brumbies.[30]
TheCanberra Kookaburras (rugby union) played their home games at Manuka Oval when they competed in theSydney competition from 1995 until they were excluded from the competition in 2000. The Kookaburras rugby union team rejoined the topSydney competition in 2004 as theCanberra Vikings however opted to play their home games atViking Park instead. The Canberra Vikings did make a return to Manuka Oval in 2007 for theAustralian Rugby Championship and played three of their four home games at the ground. The other game was played atCanberra Stadium. However the competition was scrapped by theAustralian Rugby Union at the end of the year.[31]
Manuka Oval has also previously hostedboxing andwrestling.[32] In the inaugural year of theNational Soccer League in 1977,Canberra City played its home games at Manuka Oval, but moved to the newly builtBruce Stadium in 1978.Hockey was also played at Manuka Oval until the National Hockey Centre was built.
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A two-storey curator's residence is attached to the oval. It was built in the 1930s in the style typically used by theFederal Capital Commission. The trees that circle the oval includecypress,poplar,oak andelm trees, many of which were planted in the 1920s.[33] The Jack Fingleton Scoreboard, originally located at theMelbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), dates to 1901. When an electronic scoreboard was installed at the MCG in the early 1980s, the old scoreboard was relocated to Manuka Oval. The scoreboard is named afterJack Fingleton, an Australian opening batsman, political correspondent in Canberra, and prolific author, who had died shortly before the board's relocation.[34][35]
| No. | Date | Teams | Crowd |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 30 July 2016 | Greater Western Sydney v.Richmond | 14,974 |
| 2 | 4 June 2006 | Kangaroos v.Sydney | 14,922 |
| 3 | 18 April 2004 | Kangaroos v.Sydney | 14,891 |
| 4 | 25 July 2015 | Greater Western Sydney v.Geelong | 14,667 |
| 5 | 27 May 2007 | Western Bulldogs v.Sydney | 14,517 |
| 6 | 15 May 2010 | Western Bulldogs v.Sydney | 14,308 |
| 7 | 5 August 2017 | Greater Western Sydney v.Melbourne | 14,274 |
| 8 | 28 April 2017 | Greater Western Sydney v.Western Bulldogs | 14,048 |
| 9 | 25 May 2003 | Kangaroos v.Sydney | 13,832 |
| 10 | 3 April 2016 | Greater Western Sydney v.Geelong | 13,656 |
| Source:AFL Attendance RecordsLast updated on 6 August 2017 | |||
| No. | Date | Teams | Crowd |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 22 January 1985 | Prime Minister's XI v. West Indies | 15,807 |
| 2 | 24 January 1984 | Prime Minister's XI v. West Indies | 14,484 |
| 3 | 22 January 1986 | Prime Minister's XI v. New Zealand | 12,700 |
| 4 | 10 November 2006 | Prime Minister's XI v. England | 11,859 |
| 5 | 28 January 2015 | Sydney Sixers v.Perth Scorchers | 11,837 |
| 6 | 9 February 2019 | Sydney Thunder v.Hobart Hurricanes | 11,557 |
| 7 | 6 February 2013 | Australia v. West Indies | 11,548 |
| 8 | 2 February 2019 | Australia v. Sri Lanka (Day 2, Test cricket) | 11,388[36] |
| 9 | 24 January 2018 | Sydney Thunder v.Melbourne Renegades | 11,319 |
| 10 | 28 January 2004 | Prime Minister's XI v. India | 11,300 |
| Source:Adam MorehouseLast updated on 5 February 2019 | |||
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