Adelaide Oval’s cricket Test match against India is a can’t miss event for SA’s most powerful | Paul Starick
Finally, Adelaide Oval is hosting a decent Test match in a top timeslot - it’s the unofficial highlight of the powerbrokers’ calendar, writes Paul Starick.
Opinion
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The annual Adelaide pre-Christmas cricket Test match is now the unofficial social, business and political networking event of the year.
Nothing else matches the mass appeal, crowd-pulling power, international exposure, renowned traditional venue and festive timing.
Captains of industry and political leaders network in corporate boxes or out the back in the members’ area “Village Green” – along with more than a few farmers taking some down time.
Others huddle on the legendary Hill, ushering in the festive season with more than a few beers.
Crucially, the deal announced in August for a guaranteed pre-Christmas timeslot for the next seven years represents a huge political victory for the unofficial Team South Australia that championed the cause.
This was spearheaded by Premier Peter Malinauskas – a South Australian Cricket Association member since he was “knee-high to a grasshopper”.
But former federal Coalition minister Jamie Briggs, now a SACA board member and consultant to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, also played an important behind-the-scenes strategic role. SACA president Will Rayner was, of course, a key player.
It’s important to remember that, just a year ago, Adelaide was consigned to the scrap heap of the Test cricket calendar.
Having launched an audacious bid to seize the New Year’s Test from Sydney, Adelaide was rewarded with the now-lowly West Indies for the second consecutive year.
Despite figures showing Adelaide pulled the nation’s top crowds per capita, the cards were stacked against the esteemed Oval by the Test starting on a Wednesday.
Professionally and personally affronted, the Premier fired up in an exclusive interview with The Advertiser.
Doubtless, there was some calculated posturing going on in a bid to force Cricket Australia to guarantee the pre-Christmas timeslot for a decent amount of years.
But, during the interview, there was an unusual note of personal passion in the Premier’s incendiary tone.
Lashing the decision to start the Test on a Wednesday in mid-January, Mr Malinauskas attacked the “disgraceful” scheduling and warned cricket’s hierarchy “cannot take the South Australian fee-paying public for granted any longer”.
He declared Cricket Australia “had reaped what they sowed by showing contempt” to SA cricket fans by switching the pre-Christmas Test to Perth, which was widely criticised for drawing just 59,125 people across four days.
“Starting the Adelaide Test on a Wednesday, it is a complete and utter disgrace …(it) means people have to take time off work in order to be able to attend the cricket,” Mr Malinauskas said.
”Now, buying a ticket to the cricket isn’t cheap as it is but when you lay on top the cost of taking a day off work, it really stacks up.”
Mr Malinauskas and Team SA have got their wish. Adelaide has a prime-time pre-Christmas day-night Test, starting on a Friday, against global cricket powerhouse India.
A top crowd is all-but guaranteed, not least because of India’s fanatical supporters, who flock in droves to watch their heroes.
India’s crushing of Australia in Perth, in the first Test of the series, has handed its fans even more motivation to attend – not that they needed it.
Even Mr Malinauskas might find time to attend – before entering politics he was sometimes spotted networking in the Village Green.
Arguably, a SACA membership is the most prestigious of the big crowd-pulling sports in Adelaide.
While powerbrokers mix in corporate boxes at other major events, they can mingle more casually and longer during a five-day Test match (if it doesn’t finish early).
Adelaide finally has a Test against a powerhouse nation in a top timeslot.
Whatever the result, it’s the event of the year.
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