Canberra's Revamped Manuka Oval To Reopen With Match Against England On Jan. 14

Manuka Oval curator Brad van Dam "is confident the iconic Canberra venue can prove itself 'one of the big boys' of Australian sport as its revamped surface reopens to a testing logjam of cricket" and Australian Football League fixtures, according to Chris Dutton of the CANBERRA TIMES. Just months after resembling a dirt pit with mountains of soil, the oval "will undergo more transition as it hosts five top-level cricket matches and two AFL fixtures within three months." It means van Dam "will need to put the new multimillion-dollar surface through three quick transformations in its early stages, switching between cricket and AFL conditions." Manuka "has been closed for renovations since July, but will reopen for the Prime Minister's XI match against England" on Jan. 14. The new lights and surface are part of a long-term, A$35M ($31.7M) investment "expected to be finished by the end of the decade" (CANBERRA TIMES, 12/12).