International cricket
Most games are played as parts of "tours", when one nation travels to another for a number of weeks or months, and plays a number of matches of various sorts against the host nation. The ICC also organises competitions that are for several countries at once, including the Cricket World Cup & ICC T20 World Cup.
Melbourne
Cricket is one of the longest established sports in Melbourne with the Melbourne Cricket Club forming within three years of settlement. The club is responsible for the management of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The largest cricket stadium in the world, the MCG is notable for hosting the first Test match and the first One Day International, played between Australia and England in 1877 and 1971 respectively. It is also the home of the National Sports Museum. Australian rules football, the nation's most popular spectator sport, traces its origins to matches played in parklands next to the MCG in 1858. The Melbourne Football Club codified the first laws of the game the following year, making it the world's oldest major football code. The sport's pre-eminent professional competition, the Australian Football League (AFL), is headquartered at Docklands Stadium. Nine of the league's teams are based in the Melbourne metropolitan area: Carlton, Collingwood, Essendon, Hawthorn, Melbourne, North Melbourne, Richmond, St Kilda, and Western Bulldogs. Melbourne hosts up to five AFL matches per round during the home and away season, attracting an average of 40,000 spectators per game. The AFL Grand Final, traditionally held at the 100,000 capacity MCG, is the highest attended club championship event in the world.