Hobart’s new stadium designed to host indoor Test cricket

There are ambitions to host indoor Test cricket at a new stadium proposed in Hobart as part of a Tasmanian team joining the Australian Football League (AFL).

The Tasmania Devils are due to become the AFL’s 19th team in 2028 and part of the deal is based around there being a new stadium constructed. It is being earmarked as a multipurpose 23,000-seater venue at Macquarie Point with a transparent roof to allow daytime cricket as well as floodlit T20.

“We want to get to red-ball [cricket], that’s our focus,” Macquarie Point Development Corporation CEO Anne Beach told SEN Tassie. “The tricky thing is…we can’t be accredited until it’s built so what we need to do is keep working through the detail and design process with Cricket [Tasmania] and Cricket Australia and work with them to brief ICC to make sure they have all the information available.

“We are workshopping with them through detailed design so we are making sure we are factoring in everything they need, [so] they have a clear understanding of how it’s coming together then hopefully that sign-off process is pretty smooth. But we do want to get that red-ball sign-off and that’s critical I think to enable that full content to be in the stadium.”

Concept designs of the Macquarie Point stadium were released earlier this week. Ball-tracking data has been used in developing the plans to ensure the roof would be higher enough for cricket.

“Cricket’s biggest concern was the height of the roof…they cited concerns with Marvel Stadium [in Melbourne] where the ball could potentially hit the roof,” Cox Architecture CEO Alistair Richardson said.

“What we’ve done is we’ve worked through looking at Hawk-Eye and the ball-tracking technology, to actually assess the maximum height that anyone’s hit a ball, which is quite interesting. “Then, actually, [we’ve] pushed the roof to 50 metres, which cricket was really happy with, because there’s no instance of anyone hitting a ball at 50 metres.”

Experts have said that the design of the roof means there will be very little impact from shadows on the playing surface.

Marvel Stadium hosted indoor ODIs back in the early 2000s and BBL matches can be played with the roof closed, but Test cricket has never taken place at an enclosed ground.

Cricket Tasmania chair David Boon reiterated the state’s aim of playing cricket at the new stadium although it would likely lead to debate around the future of Bellerive Oval.

“There is a wonderful opportunity for Tasmania to be a leader in innovation for the future of the game,” Boon said. “We want to play cricket in this stadium and look forward to working collaboratively with all parties over the coming months as the design is finalised.”

Tasmania last hosted a Test in the 2021-22 season – its first since 2016 – when the final match of the Ashes was switched to Bellerive Oval from Perth due to Covid travel restrictions into Western Australia. It is unlikely to stage another Test in the remainder of the current Future Tours Programme. Australia’s men will play a T20I against Pakistan in November followed by the third ODI of the Women’s Ashes in January.

AAP contributed to this story