FROM Don Bradman to Shane Warne, Ashes clean sweeps to Australia's first day-night games, the Sydney Cricket Ground has played host to a plethora of iconic characters and moments over the years.
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Amongst those who regards the SCG turf to be hallowed ground is Central West Wranglers captain Jameel Qureshi.
It is why leading the Wranglers out onto the SCG in Sunday's Plan B Regional Bash semi-final against the ACT Aces is a moment he is eagerly anticipating.
"It's just exciting for me, obviously personally when I was growing up the SCG has always been the best cricket ground in the world to me," Qureshi said.
"They talk about the home of cricket being Lords and that's true, but I think the best cricketers that have ever played have called the SCG home, so I think it's a pretty special place, a pretty historic place.
"A lot of big moments that are important to cricket have happened there, so it's just an honour to play there and I'm really looking forward to it."
Qureshi thought he had missed his chance to play at the venue when, during his stint for Hawkesbury in the Sydney Grade Cricket competition, a match scheduled for the SCG was washed-out.
But now he is set to play his second game there in as many years.
Last season after the Wranglers reached the semi-final of the Twenty20 Regional Bash competition, Qureshi got to make his SCG debut.
It was something that almost didn't happen. Cricket NSW was going to switch the Regional Bash finals to North Sydney Oval given a packed schedule at the SGC.
Qureshi was livid, saying: "Essentially it's like telling your kids at Christmas they're going to get a motorbike and then they wake up and there's a push bike with no wheels under the tree."
However, Cricket NSW and the SCG Trust found a solution and Qureshi - as well as his Wranglers - went on to play at the venue.
While the Wranglers lost that semi-final against the ACT Aces and Quershi would have loved to do better than his 28 runs off 30 deliveries, it was an experience he cherished.
The opportunity to play there again is something he treats with the same reverence and he has drummed into his current team - many of them new faces this season - the privileged position they are in.
"I said to the boys that this is not just for you, this is for all the young guys playing, this is for your parents who have driven you around since you've been a kid. Even if you're a 30-year-old or a 35-year-old, having your parents come to watch you at the SCG, it's for them as well," he said.
"It's for your brothers, your sisters, all your family, all the coaches who have put time into you. I said to the guys that those of you who are lucky enough to be fathers, this is something that not too many people can say they've done - playing at the SCG. It's a legacy that you will leave behind, your kids will be able to say 'My Father played there'.
"It's a very special thing."
