Gold Coast Dolphins president Jeff Pfaff the brains behind arrival of international T20 cricket on Coast

A LONG-serving Gold Coast administrator has emerged as the unsung hero in bringing international cricket to the Glitter Strip.

GOLD Coast Dolphins president Jeff Pfaff has emerged as the unsung hero in bringing international cricket to the Glitter Strip.

Yesterday’s announcement of a T20 between Australia and South Africa at Carrara’s Metricon Stadium on November 17 was the culmination of four years of hard slog from the 20-year Dolphins figurehead.

The game is the first step in a strategy devised by Pfaff, Gold Coast City Council and AFL’s Gold Coast Suns to deliver regular elite cricket for the city, with the Dolphins’ Bill Pippen Oval headquarters poised to play a major role as a support venue.

Council has already agreed to commit $250,000 to a $1.25 million upgrade of the Robina facility to bring it up to Tier 2 status, which would cater for matches of any kind excluding men’s international fixtures.

Gold Coast cricketers Sam Day and Josh Arnold at Metricon Stadium in 2016. Picture: David Clark

“I got involved in 2014. We hosted the Australian women’s team in the T20 series against Pakistan at Robina and not long after that we hosted Ireland for a training camp prior to the 2015 World Cup,” Pfaff said.

“It was at that point, because Council had helped us with some infrastructure and attracting people to come to the Coast, we started talking more with them about getting more elite cricket to the coast.

“The Suns had been looking at cricket for a while to maximise Metricon so we joined up strategies to have a complete cricket offering for the Coast. We want Bill Pippen to be to Metricon what Allan Border Field is to the Gabba.

“Then it links (the plan) to the grassroots as well, it’s not just big time cricket coming and playing a game once or twice a year. It’s been a long road and it’s still going because Metricon is still the first piece in the puzzle, now it’s about getting Bill Pippen up to standard.

“I think the international game will be massive for the Coast. Hopefully the Coast gets behind it and it shows Cricket Australia there’s a big market for cricket here. We’ve got a great opportunity.”

Gold Coast Dolphins president Jeff Pfaff.

With next season’s Big Bash League growing from 10 games per team to 14, expansion has been put on the backburner.

However, Pfaff believe the Coast will be ready to pounce if and when the opportunity arises.

“I think having a Gold Coast team would be brilliant. It would be a great venue, particularly because we’ve got Metricon but also a big population and it’s played in summer when a lot of people are here anyway.

“I don’t subscribe that Gold Coast is a graveyard for national teams, this is different product and a different time of year. It’d be fantastic.”

While the funds required for the Bill Pippen Oval upgrade are still being secured, Pfaff is hopeful the changes will be in place in time for the 2019-20 season.