Adelaide Oval Test blackout: Nathan Lyon nets session revealed as cause of lights problem

The cause of the power outage which stopped play on the opening day of the Adelaide Test has been revealed — and it involves one of Australia’s biggest stars.

Australia’s desire to give nightwatchman Nathan Lyon a hitout in the nets caused the light outage that temporarily sent shockwaves through the second Test.

In a bid to turn on the lights at the Adelaide Oval nets the wrong switch was flicked and the main light towers twice went into darkness.

The twin stoppages caused three minutes of play to be lost but it was made up at the end of the day.

Officials confirmed a report by ex-Test gloveman Brad Haddin on The Willow Talk podcast who revealed the quirk after play on Friday night.

“I was speaking to the ground staff and it was all about Nathan Lyon,’’ Haddin said.

“Nathan Lyon went out the back for a hit and they went to turn the lights on and whatever happened, they turned the wrong set off and the lights went off and Nathan Lyon said, ‘I’ve got to fix this so I can go out and bat in the nets’.

The stadium descends into near-darkness after the lights were turned off.

“They politely said to Nathan, the lights are off on the ground, we’re not so worried about your hit at the moment. So that’s come hot off the press from the curators.”

South Australian MP Tom Koutsantonis took to X on Friday night to distance the Labor Government from the technical glitch.

“I can confirm there was no lack of power supply or availability in South Australia. Whatever caused the light towers at Adelaide Oval to turn off was not related to a lack of power supply from the Grid,” he wrote.

The brief delays paled into insignificance compared to high profile blackouts at the Gabba and Melbourne’s Waverley Park.

Lyon had been pulled from nightwatchman duties during the first Test, with Australian captain Pat Cummins instead taking over, but has returned to the role this Test. He was not called upon as Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne batted out day one of the match.