Second Test: Brisbane
The Gabba
Capacity
37,000
Opened
1895
Ashes Tests hosted
22
England wins
4
Australia wins
13
Draws
5
Traditionally the venue for the first Ashes Test, this time the Gabba hosts the second.
And in a further change to convention, it’s going to be a day-night Test.
What does that mean? Well, don’t worry about clearing your diary for day five because the ball is likely to swing round corners here: the ultimate test of any batter’s technique.
Brisbane has traditionally been Australia’s fortress, particularly against England who haven’t won there since 1986. It’s only in recent years that touring teams have had success.
This imposing stadium, situated on Vulture Street, does some funny things to Englishmen.
It was here that Nasser Hussain famously chose to bowl first and watched Australia rack up almost 500, while four years later, Steve Harmison opened the Ashes with a delivery that was so wide it was caught by second slip Andrew Flintoff.
Mitchell Johnson terrorised England here in 2013 and few will forget the first ball of the last Ashes down under when Mitchell Starc bowled Rory Burns around his pads.
It’s a bear pit of a ground, too.
When England’s Simon Jones was stretched off with a career-threatening knee injury in 2002, a supporter gave him a less than sympathetic send-off.
“As I was carried off, someone in the crowd shouted that I was a ‘weak Pommie’ and threw a can of lager at me,” Jones recalled. “But I didn’t take it personally. The Gabba was like that. It’s a seriously impressive stadium with its own intimidating properties.”
It’s not going to be around forever, though. The Gabba is scheduled to be demolished after the 2032 Olympic Games, with cricket moving to a new 60,000-seater stadium in the Victoria Park area of Brisbane.
