A test rig designed to determine whether cricket can be played under a roofed stadium has been completed at Hobart’s Macquarie Point, with cricketers set to begin testing this week.
The rig simulates the roof structure of the proposed $1.13 billion Macquarie Point stadium and will assess how the translucent ETFE roof material manages shadows and sunlight on the playing surface.
Cricket Australia and Cricket Tasmania raised serious concerns in early 2025 that the fixed-roof design would cast shadows across the pitch, making the venue unsuitable for matches and potentially challenging even for limited-overs cricket.
In a letter to the state government, the two cricket bodies said the design meant the stadium was unlikely to be conducive to hosting Test cricket.
They also flagged concerns about one-day and T20 fixtures.
Macquarie Point Development Corporation (MPDC) CEO Anne Beach acknowledged the challenge during a parliamentary inquiry, saying the transparent covering created contrast on clear days.
The timber and steel beams, Beach said, while engineered to be as small as possible, would still cast shadows.
By November 2025, Cricket Tasmania CEO Dom Baker said a Gold Coast company had identified a solution that could effectively eliminate shadows on the playing surface.
The proposed fix involves applying a matte treatment to one side of the ETFE roof material.
This will disperse light rather than allow it to pass straight through, reducing the sharp shadows that had concerned cricket authorities.
However, the treatment had not been physically tested until now.
The rig has been designed to hold a range of treated roofing materials to test shadow intensity, ball visibility and playing conditions for cricketers.
It is also expected to provide data on how roof treatments affect natural turf growth underneath.
The testing panel is expected to include current and former players, along with match officials.
The stadium, which passed both houses of parliament in December, is designed as a 23,000-seat multi-purpose venue and will be the home ground of the Tasmania Devils AFL team.
Its fixed dome roof, supported by Tasmanian timber, would make it the largest timber-roofed stadium in the world.
