Allan Border Cricket Field

[Miss Ruhnke]

AllanBorder Field is a cricket ground in the Brisbane suburb of Albion in Queensland. The Australian Cricket Academy has been based at the oval since 2004, using it as a base for the development of elite cricketers throughout Australia.

It was formerly known as Neumann Oval and was home to the Fortitude Valley Diehards rugby league team from 1909 until 1995. The oval was named for Fred "Firpo" Neumann, Valley's club captain (and later president) and Queensland and Australian representative footballer.[1] Queensland Cricket purchased the ground not long after Valley's relocation and named it in honour of former Australian cricket captain Allan Border. The ground is used as a training facility for the Queensland Bulls and more recently the Australian cricket team.[2] The capacity of the ground is 6,300, which is much smaller than the Gabba. It is also used as a home venue for the Queensland Bulls and Cricket Australia XI in Australian domestic cricket.[3]

First grade rugby league was played at the ground between 1960 and 1995 by the Fortitude Valley Diehards in the Brisbane Rugby League competition. The club won 15 titles during their tenure in the league, the most of any club, and produced future Queensland captain and immortal Wally Lewis.

The first first-class match held at the ground was played between Queensland and a touring Pakistan team in 1999 during which both Matthew Hayden and Stuart Law[4] made centuries as Queensland won the match by 112 runs.[5]

The venue hosted Australian domestic and List A matches in the early-2000s, including the 1999/00 Pura Cup Final[6] but, in later years, was restricted to tour matches between Queensland and international teams, with the Gabba becoming the primary home of the Queensland Bulls.

Sheffield Shield was re-introduced in 2010 with a match played between Queensland and South Australia[9] and more games have been played since, including a match in 2013 between Queensland and Tasmania during which Jordan Silk made a century.[10]

In 2014, two four-day matches were played between Australia A and a touring India A team.[11] Naman Ojha made a double-century in one of the matches. Mitchell Marsh, who scored 211, and Sam Whiteman, who scored 174, put on 371 runs for the eighth wicket, an Australian record and the second-highest eighth-wicket partnership recorded.[12] Both matches resulted in a draw.[13]

On 23 June 2014 it was announced that the field would jointly play host to the initial rounds of the newly sponsored Matador BBQs One-Day Cup in October.[14][15] In the first match, Josh Hazlewood took 7 for 36 against South Australia, the third-best bowling performance in Australian domestic one-day history and the best by a New South Welshman.[16] Four days later, Jonathan Wells made the second-highest score in List A cricket at Allan Border Field, becoming just the fourth batsman to make a century in List A cricket at the ground. In the same match Sam Rainbird took figures of 5 for 29.[17] However, in the last match, Queenslander Joe Burns made 115 against South Australia in a 94-run victory, passing Wells' score and becoming the fifth batsman to make a century in List A cricket at the ground.[18][19]

On 8 July 2015 Victorian all-rounder Marcus Stoinis hit part-time medium-pacer Brendan Smith for six sixes in an over on his way to 121 from 73 balls while playing for the National Performance Squad in a 50-over match against a National Indigenous Squad. Smith, captain of the New South Wales under-17s, also sent down a wide meaning his one over of the match went for 37 runs. The game was a non-sanctioned practice match.[20]

Cricket Australia officially opened the new National Cricket Centre on 12 November 2013. The new facility replaced the Centre of Excellence. The National Cricket Centre features state-of-the-art indoor and outdoor training facilities and equipment to enhance the development of Australian cricketers.[27] The street that the Allan Border Field is on was also renamed in honour of former Australian captain Greg Chappell.[28]

Wayne Phillips was a very good cutter of the ball, and Beefy [Ian Botham] set this field, quite ridiculous, with the majority of fielders behind and just in front of point. And then he bowled short and outside off stump. Wayne hit the first few for four and then got out, caught, to the last ball of the over. Beefy walks off saying that 1 for 20 isn't bad.

The fast bowlers for West Indies through that period of dominance they had - any combination, I don't think it really mattered. They all worked together, were all slightly different and they intimidated because of their ability and the way that West Indies pulled together as a team. No matter what the injury status was, there were always four of them that would come at you.

When Allan Border lost the toss and England elected to bowl at Headingley in 1989, we could hear a few sniggers coming from the England dressing room. Apparently you never batted first and won at Leeds. But we made 600 and won by plenty. That started us steamrolling forward, culminating in 1995, when we finally beat West Indies in the Caribbean.

My opening partner Geoff Marsh used to say, we can't show them [fast bowlers] we've been hurt. It's a mental thing. When you're playing against the best, you have to stand up. And there are different ways of doing that.

I went into cricket administration by the invitation of Dennis Rogers, then chairman of Cricket Tasmania. Jack Simmons was 24 hours too late in offering me a coaching role at Lancashire in 1998. I'd already promised Dennis. Jack's response was, "Bugger, but at least I've taught you something about loyalty."

Bob Simpson decided that if we had specialists in the slips, gully, extra cover, why should bat-pad be given to the new kid on the block? That person could take a catch which could change a game.

It took a long time to sink in [when Australia beat West Indies in 1995]. The great thing for me was that Allan Border was actually there. He wasn't playing [Border had retired the previous year], but he was there with a holiday tour group from Australia and he was able to come into the dressing room and enjoy something that he hadn't been able to achieve in his career.

I've never seen a thylacine [Tasmanian tiger]. I know I'm getting old, but they died out well before me. There have been sightings over the years, but none of them have ever been confirmed. The only Tassie tigers I know of are the guys in the Tasmanian cricket team.

I remember Patrick Patterson putting in a rapid spell at Melbourne when he'd been riled up by Allan Border. I played a ball from Patrick, jumping into the air, with not one inch of my body underneath stump height. Jeffrey Dujon said it was the funniest thing he'd ever seen in Test cricket.

I had learnt through 20-odd years with Tasmania how to develop players' belief, helping them feel like they belonged at that level, like the team belonged. Learning how to win matches and when to do that. Enjoying each other's success, the team's success, setting goals, working out how people think.

Being a match referee, you need good man-management skills, communicate, to be able to form relationships and to get outcomes to situations that are better for the game and that present the game in the right fashion to the world.

At international level, we also have a responsibility. The game is going wonderfully well, it has spread throughout the world, but it is important that it is projected in the right manner. Some people might think that the characters have gone from the game. The characters can still be there, but probably not in such an extroverted way as they used to be.

Back in the day, in Australia during the summer there was cricket and during the winter there was football and rugby, depending on which state you came from. Then the world starts moving on and all of a sudden there's a massive increase in sports available for kids to play. There's also a change in lifestyle. Both parents working, one of those working six days a week - time is precious.

Botham and I had a couple of red wines after the [Durham] game finished. We've both grown up a bit since then, so if we went out for a few drinks today, it would be far more controlled than it possibly would have been years ago.

You wouldn't want to say anything to Merv Hughes if you were his match referee because most of the time [his antics] were so hilarious. At times he was probably taken the wrong way. He was aggressive and looked like he was going over the top. Some of it was psychological, but there was also a hell of a lot of humour. Merv these days would have to curb some of his edges. But he would still manage.

People say Tasmania punches above its weight. I don't agree with that one little bit. The attitude is there for everybody involved with Tasmanian cricket to be the best they can and to excel. Doesn't matter where you come from and what the population is. It's a matter of attitude and the way you move forward with that and make it work.

Allan Border Field is a cricket ground located in the Brisbane suburb of Albion which was upgraded to international standard in 2022. The facility forms part of the new National Cricket Campus, a $19 million facility completed over three stages. The redevelopment included increasing the size of the playing arena and wicket block, broadcast-standard field lighting, video scoreboard, spectator terracing and broadcast facilities. The new National Cricket Campus builds on the Australian National Cricket Academy which opened within the precinct in 2004 - now the Bupa National Cricket Centre.

The ground has an estimated capacity of 4,000 and includes two historic grandstands with undercover seating. It hosts matches for the Queensland Bulls, Brisbane Heat WBBL and the Australian national women's team.

Allan Border Field was formerly known as Neumann Oval and was home of the now-defunct QLD State Rugby League club Fortitude Valley Diehards from 1909 until 1995. Queensland Cricket purchased the ground shortly after the club relocated.

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