07 June 2019
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Whilst the Cricket World Cup takes place in England, Australia Post have released four new stamps featuring Australian sports stadiums, including two showing the nation's most famous cricket arenas
The four $1 stamps celebrate the architecture of these iconic buildings, each of which has a place at the heart of Australian society. The stamps feature four major sporting stadiums from across the country, including what is considered by many as one of the greatest examples, the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), fondly known as “the ’G”.
The first stamp shows AAMI Park in Victoria, the region's first world-class pitch for elite level rugby league, rugby union and soccer. The stadium is home to several sporting teams, including the Melbourne Storm, Melbourne Rebels, Melbourne Victory and Melbourne Football Club.
Next is Optus Stadium in Western Australia, which opened on Burswood Peninsula, Perth, in January 2018 and with a 60,000 seated capacity is the third largest stadium in Australia. It hosts AFL, rugby union, rugby league, football (soccer) and cricket, as well as large entertainment events.
The third value has the Sydney Cricket Ground in New South Wales. The first recorded game of cricket was played on the site (then known as the Garrison Ground) in 1854, and all major cricket matches have been since 1876, although the ground’s current name was not adopted until 1894.
Finally, we see the Melbourne Cricket Ground in Victoria, the main venue for the first Olympic Games held in the Southern Hemisphere, in 1956, a centrepiece for the 2006 Commonwealth Games and host to two cricket World Cups, in 1992 and 2015.
QUICK LINK: Royal Mail's D-Day commemoration stamps
(images courtesy of Australia Post)