Last Updated on 1 month by Charbel Coorey
Great Barrier Reef Arena (also known as Harrup Park) in Mackay will host the final two ODIs of South Africa’s tour of Australia. The second ODI, to be played on Friday 22nd August, is the first men’s ODI on this ground since the India-Sri Lanka World Cup match way back in 1992. That match was unfortunately washed out after two balls.
Mackay has played host to women’s T20Is and ODIs, along with ‘A’ matches. Here is a look at some of the key stats and pitch trends on this ground in recent years.
Great Barrier Reef Arena Mackay ground information
Mackay is located in Queensland, 975km north of Brisbane and 733km south of Cairns, where the first ODI was played. The climate is fantastic at this time of year, with a temperature of 25 degrees and minimal rain forecast for the next week.
Australia and India played three women’s ODIs at Great Barrier Reef Arena in 2021, all won by the chasing team. The average score batting first was 254, with the highest 275/5 by Australia. Pace bowlers enjoyed more success, taking 25 wickets at 34.40 (econ. 5.21), compared to just nine wickets for the spinners at 71.11 (econ. 5.09).
It was a similar story in last year’s Australia A vs India A four-day match soon before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. There was help in the pitch for the seamers early in that game, with Brendan Doggett (6/15) and Mukesh Kumar (6/46) taking full advantage.
The surface then settled down into a good one for batting, with Sai Sudharsan (103) and Devdutt Padikkal (88) scoring well in the second innings. Australia A then chased down the 226-run target with Nathan McSweeney (88*) and Beau Webster (61*) sealing the victory.
Going by those trends, there is the possibility that Mackay is more seamer-friendly than Cairns, where Keshav Maharaj ran through the Australian lineup with 5/33 in the opening ODI. With the mostly clear conditions forecast, the captain who wins the toss could opt to chase given the possibility of dew in the evening. Also, it will be tempeting to have first use of a fresh pitch.
South Africa have won 16 of their past 20 ODIs against Australia. If the Proteas win either of the final two matches in Mackay, it will be their fifth-straight bilateral ODI series win over Australia.
