With "less than a month to go before the start of the cricket season, Victoria is still officially homeless for its final three Sheffield Shield matches" of '14-15, according to Jesse Hogan of THE AGE. The search for venues to be used for the last three rounds of the shield season, when the Melbourne Cricket Ground is in World Cup mode, "is proving problematic." The cause of the "fixturing saga, which has been going for most of the year, is Victoria does not have a venue considered suitable by CA to host first-class matches" when the MCG is unavailable, in relation to "pitch conditions and general facilities." That handicap is the basis of Cricket Victoria's "intense, but as yet unsuccessful, attempts at lobbying state governments for a multimillion-dollar grant for a major redevelopment of the decrepit Junction Oval in St Kilda." Alternative venues to be used by other states during the World Cup include Allan Border Field in Brisbane and Gliderol Stadium in outer Adelaide. Irrespective of "how the round 10 dilemma is solved," Victoria will be the "only team to play home matches outside its state" (THE AGE, 9/7).
