The Brisbane Cricket Ground, commonly known as the Gabba, is a sports stadium located in Woolloongabba, Brisbane. The stadium is used for a variety of sports activities which include cricket, baseball, Australian rules football, athletics, soccer, Pony racing, etc.
The stadium has a seating arrangement for about 42,000 spectators and is owned by the Government of Queensland.
The Gabba is the home ground of the Queensland Cricket Team, Brisbane Heat of Big Bash League and Brisbane Lions of the Australian Football League. The Gabba is the 10th largest stadium in Australia and it was one of the venues to host the 2000 Summer Olympics.
The Gabba is the stadium which witnessed the first ever tied test match in the history of cricket.
History
The Gabba was used for playing cricket since 1895 but it was only in the year 1931 that it got to host its first international match. The match was played between Australia and South Africa where the home team won the match by an innings and 163 runs.
The first ODI match at the Gabba was played between West Indies and England in 1979 and was won by West Indies by nine wickets.
Major Matches
One of the major matches to have taken place at the Gabba was the test match between Australia and West Indies in December, 1960. The match ended in a tie which is a rare case in the longest format of the game.
The second ever World Cup match to be abandoned before toss was scheduled to be played at the Gabba between Australia and Bangladesh.
The 1992 World Cup match between Australia and India took place at the Gabba. The match was won by Australia by 1 run and caused India to exit the competition.
Controversies
In the late 2017, there were reports revealing that the upgradation work and the evolution of facilities at the Gabba is very poor and it has slipped down in its rankings to the fifth spot for cricket.
Recent Matches
The last test match to be hosted by the stadium was the first test match of The Ashes 2017 in November and was won by the Australian team by 10 wickets.
The stadium is an important venue for the Big Bash League every year.