End names Northern End, Southern End
Home team(s) Bankstown, New South Wales
Current local time 10:10, Sun May 18, 2008 (UTC +1000)
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Situated in the south-west of Sydney, the home ground of the
Bankstown-Canterbury Bulldogs in the Sydney grade competition. There have
been a number of great players who first made their mark here - Jeff Thomson
and Len Pascoe shared the new ball for Bankstown in the early seventies - but it is the Waugh twins, Stephen and Mark, who are perhaps the best-loved
local heroes to have graced its field. Indeed the new pavillion opened at
the ground in early 2000 was named "The Stephen & Mark Waugh Pavillion" in
their honour.
Frequently used for NSW representative games at second eleven and colts
level, Bankstown Oval received the opportunity to stage a Sheffield Shield
match against Queensland in November 1996 when the SCG had been
double-booked for a Michael Jackson concert. Steve Waugh marked the first
day of first-class cricket here by scoring a century on his home ground,
though this was slightly upstaged the next day when Andrew Symonds blasted a
hundred in a session.
Women's international cricket came to Bankstown Oval in November 1997 when
Australia's annual clash with New Zealand for the Rose Bowl took place here.
Major interstate cricket returns to Bankstown Oval in 2000-01, while the
Sydney Cricket Ground is being relaid, with a match in each of the Pura Cup
and Mercantile Mutual Cup to be staged here.
Bankstown Oval has consistently ranked highly in the Sydney Cricket
Association's Ground of the Year award, coming first in 1999-2000. The
repeated high standing of the ground is a testimony to groundsman Warwick
Starr, and his predecessor Tom Parker.
