A gentle breeze blew over Melbourne city on a cloudy Wednesday afternoon. Not a peck of sunshine and a slight chill in the air meant the sunglasses gave way to the jackets and a hot cup of tea. Amidst such serenity and peace, India and South Africa took turns to practice at the Junction Oval, a ground 15-minute drive away from the team hotel. It’s a calm drive leading to the venue that has been home to the St. Kilda Cricket Club for more than 150 years.
With a capacity to hold a crowd of 8000, the Junction Oval has all the bearings to enjoy a silent game of cricket. With old school fencings, wooden seats arranged outside the boundary ropes and a modern backdrop of tall buildings and lush green parks, this Oval definitely makes for delightful viewing.
Landscape and beauty apart, the ground has a rich history of producing some of the best international cricketers with Shane Warne being one of its proudest commodities. Warne made his first-class debut here back in 1991 and also played at this venue between 1989 and 2006 for the St. Kilda Club.
The moment you enter the ground you notice a huge scoreboard, a lush green outfield and two stands named Blackie-Ironmonger and Kevin Murray, named after two of its oldest Test cricketers and a famous AFL player respectively.
The club has a rich history of which the current manager, Stephen Wain, talks proudly. With him we took a jog down the lane walked by generation of Australian cricketers from Bill Ponsford to Michael Beer and Rob Quiney. Wain has one peculiar memory of the Indian team that toured Australia eight years back.
“We had the Indian team that toured in 2007/08 practice in this ground,” Wain said as the current crop was enjoying a round of football. “We have had the Dravids and the Tendulkars come here. We were supposed to have a three-day warm-up game ahead of the Test but unfortunately it rained and we only had 48 overs out of the three days of cricket. The team sat in their dressing room and read newspapers and played a lot of cards,” Wain recollects with a smile on his face.
Though it rained for most part of that game, Wain said the Oval was always surrounded by a huge bunch of Indian cricket fans. “The Indian fans were here all the time. They just sat in the stands and watched it rain,” he says with amusement. “I remember Wasim Akram being here that time for a bit of media work and the fans followed him too. When Sachin Tendulkar walked out to the ground, the fans tried to get as close to him as possible.”
One of Wain’s proudest moment as the manager of the club came when none other than Sachin Tendulkar stopped to appreciate how they had preserved their history.
“We have a room that has all the memorabilia of the history of the club. I remember Sachin saying that it was history worth cherishing for any club and was of the best that he had ever seen. It was nice to get that sort of a feedback.”
The current Indian team going through their batting and bowling drills, Wain says had asked his management for a central wicket to practice in particular. “We asked the Indian team what they wanted and we provided it to them. Not many teams ask for a center wicket to practice, but India did and we accommodated one for them. They asked the netting to be put across the back so that they didn’t have to chase the ball out of the ground.
“South Africa just wanted to use the nets. They used the centre wicket for bowling without any batsmen so that the fast bowlers could run up and practice their bowling.”
Wain saved the best for the last. His fondness for Shane Warne was palpable. “He was here a couple of weeks back for some media work,” he recalls. “One of the ground staffs asked me “Isn’t that Shane Warne?” I said yes and we had a good chat; it was good to catch up with him. He is traveling and busy now and unfortunately for him and for us he doesn’t visit quite often. But it is good to know that the ground is still close to his heart and he is always up for a chat whenever he is here.”
