Optus Stadium Transformed Into Cricket Ground

Optus Stadium was transformed on Tuesday from football ground to cricket field, according to Rourke Walsh of THE WEST AUSTRALIAN. A little more than a week after the stadium hosted the Australian Football League Women's grand final, "five giant slabs of turf were lifted out of the centre of the ground and replaced with clay-based cricket pitches." The process was "painstakingly slow," as a 40-ton wicket transporter "crawled across the outfield and one by one removed and replaced" 25-ton sections of the center wicket block. WACA Turf Manager Nathan Saville said that "it was similar to how drop-in cricket pitches were prepared and installed at other grounds around Australia." The clay pitches are "prepared and maintained at a nursery" just outside the stadium (THE WEST AUSTRALIAN, 10/2).