North Sydney Oval, North Sydney
The North Sydney Oval is one of the oldest cricketing grounds in Australia, dating back to 1867 when it's first cricket pitch was laid out. It has also hosted Women's Test and one-day matches. Despite this, the only men's tournaments that have taken place in the venue are that of Australia's domestic first-class and List-A competitions. The ground has a capacity of 20,000 and is a prominent venue for Rugby Union matches and outdoor cinema.
This venue will be used only in the group stages of Champions League XV, hosting 3 matches across three rounds.For most part of the 20th century, The North Sydney Oval was one of the most dangerous venues for batsmen, and was given the nickname "Concrete Park". In recent times though, the pitch has been renovated and made to be a good batting wicket. It still remains a good venue for fast bowling.
Bankstown Oval, Sydney
The Bankstown Oval is ground with a capacity of 8,000 used mostly for cricket and AFL matches. It's first cricket match of any importance dates back to 1949, though it didn't become a first-class venue until November 1996. It has also hosted international matches for Women's cricket and generally plays home to the New South Wales cricket team in the Sheffield Shield and Australia's domestic List-A competition. There haven't been any Test or ODIs in men's cricket played here till date.
A total of 3 matches, all in the group stages of Champions League XV, have been allotted to this venue.The Bankstown Oval pitch tends either be evenly balanced or extremely bowler-friendly without prior warning. The small size of the ground also makes six hitting easier on days when the pitch isn't doing much, which could lead to a big total every now and then.
Hurstville Oval, Hurstville
The Hurstville Oval is perhaps one of the smallest grounds to be used for staging first-class and List-A matches in Australian domestic cricket, with a capacity of just 1,000. After being opened in 1911, it's early unofficial matches involved Australian greats like Warren Bardsley and Sir Don Bradman. But it has hosted top level cricket matches only sporadically since becoming a first-class venue in 1995, although Cricket Australia's decision to stage every Australian domestic List-A competition in Sydney since 2013/14 has made it a more active venue of late.
This venue was brought in as a last minute replacement for the Alan Davidson Oval which was reduced to hosting just one warm-up match in Champions League XV. It is set to host 3 group stage matches before the Super Fours and final go to the more noteworthy venues of Sydney.The Hurstville Oval pitch and it's short boundaries are a batsman's delight. It was probably the main reason behind it replacing the Alan Davidson Oval as a venue of Champions League XV.
Alan Davidson Oval, Sydney Park
The Alan Davidson Oval is a cricket ground located within Sydney Park. Named after the legendary Australian all-round cricketer Alan Davidson, this venue has seen no real matches of importance since Tasmania taking on the touring New Zealanders for a couple of matches in 2002/03, one of which they only narrowly lost by 4 runs. Since 2009, there have been absolutely no cricket matches worthy of a CricketArchive scorecard at all.
Understandably, it was denied the privilege of hosting anything other than one warm-up match for Champions League XV.
The Alan Davidson Oval pitch is expected to favor ball over bat, making room for low-scoring thrillers.
Assuming @themusketeer picks his own team Cape Cobras ahead of Hobart Tigers, I think we're good for the warm-ups.
@VC the slogger I'm not sure, Should I post the line-up for KP?