page_title: Sydney Cricket Ground
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Sydney Cricket Ground / History / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: Image: [1] Image details: [2] Author died in 1953; this means public domain (Australia) is applicable under "B".
context_page_description: The Sydney Cricket Ground is a sports stadium in Sydney, Australia. It is used for Test, One Day International and Twenty20 cricket, as well as Australian rules football, rugby league football, rugby union, and association football. It is the home ground for the New South Wales Blues cricket team, the Sydney Sixers of the Big Bash League and the Sydney Swans of the Australian Football League. It is also the temporary home of the Sydney Roosters of the National Rugby League and the NSW Waratahs of Super Rugby, during the redevelopment of the Sydney Football Stadium. It is owned and operated by the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust, who also hold responsibility for the Sydney Football Stadium which is currently being redeveloped by the NSW Government.
context_section_description: By the time of the first Sydney cricket test in February 1882, the ground could boast two grandstands; the Brewongle Stand at the southern end and the original Members' Stand, which had been built in 1878 in the north west corner where the current Members' Stand now sits. On opposite sides of the ground to the stands two spectator mounds were built. They became known as The Hill and the Paddington Hill.
  In 1886, the Members' Pavilion was rebuilt at a cost of £6,625. Membership was levied at two guineas.
  In 1881 a loop in the tram line, which ran down Randwick Road (now Anzac Parade), was built to service the Ground and the Pastoral and Agricultural Society Ground (later the RAS Showgrounds and now Fox Studios) next door.
  In 1894 the ground finally received its modern name, the Sydney Cricket Ground, which was followed by the opening of the Hill Stand, situated between The Hill and the Paddington Hill. It became known as the Bob Stand during the Depression years because it cost one shilling (a bob) to enter.
  The first SCG scoreboard was built in the two weeks leading up to the 1895–1896 inter-colonial match between New South Wales and Victoria. Although it was Sheridan's idea, the design was Ned Gregory's who believed that English scoreboards were inadequate. Requiring two men to operate it, the new scoreboard was hailed as one of the wonders of the cricket world. Boards with players' names on them were placed in different slits alongside scrolls of canvas with numbers painted on them which were rolled up and down to show the changing score. Under the scoreboard was a refreshment stall which sold, among other things, oysters.
  In 1896 the Ladies' Stand was opened, along with a concrete cycling track which circled the inside of the ground. One of the carpenters who built the formwork for the track was George Bradman, father of Don Bradman. In 1898 floodlights were built over the cycling track so that night events could be held. In 1904 the scoreboard was rebuilt at the top of The Hill and in 1909 the Sheridan Stand, named after Phil Sheridan, was opened at the southern end, replacing the earlier Smokers' Stand.
  In the period up to World War I the SCG was used for a wide variety of sports including athletics, tennis, baseball, football and cycling. The cycling track however was removed in 1920. In 1924 Ned Gregory's scoreboard was closed and the concrete scoreboard at the back of the Hill opened.
  During the 1920s, and 1930s crowds packed into the SCG to see Don Bradman play for New South Wales and Australia. Many of the huge gate takings that Bradman brought in for the NSWCA were spent on developing the ground. A large new stand was built at the northern end in two stages. It replaced the Northern Stand and was intended to also replace the Members' and Ladies' Stands.  The first stage, begun while Bradman was still playing for New South Wales, was opened in 1936 at a cost of £90,000 and named the 'M.A. Noble Stand' after the great Australian captain Monty Noble. The second stage, completed in 1973 at a cost of $2 million, was named the Bradman Stand after the great man himself.
  Further redevelopment of the ground began in 1978 with the advent of World Series Cricket (WSC) and games played at night. When media giant Kerry Packer failed to obtain the television broadcast rights for cricket, he bought the top 30–40 players in the world and staged his own competition, World Series Cricket.
  Packer applied to use the SCG for WSC in 1977 but the SCG Trust, which administered the ground, refused. However the NSW Labor Government, under Premier Neville Wran, amended the Sydney Sports Ground and Cricket Ground Act to remove the Trust's power to decide who played at the SCG and the NSWCA's traditional right over the ground. A new Trust was established with 12 members appointed by the Government and two elected by SCG members. The new Trust had no WSC opponents, and although legal action by the NSWCA stopped WSC games being played at the SCG in 1977, they were played there in 1978.
   
  In the years since WSC the character of the SCG has s
caption: A crowded SCG during a 1930s cricket match
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