NewsBite

Test cricket’s ugly demise has reached a new low in Adelaide

The demise of Test match cricket reached ugly depths in Adelaide thanks to one glaring blunder from those in charge of the game.

Australia v West Indies: 1st Test, Day 4 Highlights

COMMENT

Administrators have slowly sold off Test cricket’s fabric in recent times like it’s a fraying dog blanket on Gumtree.

But after the farce of the first Test against the West Indies, it appears they’ve discovered an even cruder way to treat it like a flea-ridden discard.

In addition to shunning years of tradition by starving Test cricket to death, now they’re also crushing the very innovations introduced to save it.

Watch Australia v West Indies on Kayo Sports. Every Test, ODI and T20I Live with no ad breaks during play. New to Kayo? Start Your Free Trial Today >

By refusing Adelaide a day/night fixture for the series opener, Test cricket has been stripped of its saving graces like pink balls, floodlights and most crucially, ratings.

But worst of all, it has ostracised an entire city by starving it of a homegrown event that fills the bars and lines the game’s coffers regardless of the brittle opposition on offer.

Audible gasps were heard around the nation last year when the 2023/24 summer calendar revealed Adelaide’s Test was scheduled to begin in the highly unsexy AM.

The administrators reasoning for granting the only day/night Test to the Gabba was reportedly to avoid Queensland’s January heat, because apparently it never gets hot in Adelaide in summertime.

It was a slap in the face for South Aussies, especially with Adelaide’s day-nighter establishing itself alongside Boxing Day and the New Years Test as a showpiece that could pull numbers even if the series had all the appeal of toe jam.

Just what wasn’t needed, a day Test. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Just what wasn’t needed, a day Test. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Yes, Adelaide’s pink ball test will return next year when we need the ball to hypnotically loop against India, and yes, Adelaide does not own the sole rights to nightwatchman after 9:30pm.

But if Test cricket is to maintain its most crucial tradition – survival – administrators need more bankable events like Adelaide’s day/nighter, especially for fixtures featuring sides most journalists wouldn’t identify in a police line-up.

Furthermore, these concepts will become even more critical if games continue to be scheduled to kick-off on a Wednesday, especially if they’ll only make the weekend in the event of a sixth inning.

Full credit must go to the 25,381 Adelaideans who attended on day one, especially on a clunky weekday during business hours.

Not only did it prove the city deserves better, but also that it's a knowledgeable crowd who saw a frail Windies side and realised the game could be over before the toss.

But not every Test match fixture can rely on the goodwill of South Australia.

As we know, many attempts have been made to trim the whiskers of Test cricket to make it presentable for the modern age, including the introduction of the World Test Championship, Bazball, the glorious sinking thereof, and of course, day/night matches.

Test cricket’s demise continues to reach new lows. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Test cricket’s demise continues to reach new lows. (Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)

Sure, back in the 90s you could play the Windies at 3am Tuesday morning and it’d still go gangbusters, but when hosting a new-look side that hasn’t beaten Australia in more than 20 years, a pink-ball series seemed a layup proposition for a tour that would always be a hard sell.

But here we are at 11am praying it out-rates Studio Ten, a show that was cancelled months ago.

In short, if administrators continue suffocating these low-rating Test series at inopportune timeslots – thus undoing all the good work of putting names and numbers on the players’ shirts – we might as well ship them off to regional venues.

Considering we dump pre-season footy and washed-up brekky radio personalities in the country, I’m sure administrators would be happy to send a team of equally underwhelming tourists to Cairns or Ballarat to save the embarrassment of feigning care for Tasmanians by scheduling them Sri Lanka and then fudging their crowd figures when nobody turns up in protest.

Plus it would leave the major venues available for more important things, like Dave’s chopper.

While the thought of Marnus hunting a rummed-up punter from the sight screen in Mackay is a tough sell, it may be the only option until we can schedule every Test in Adelaide.

– Dane Eldridge is a warped cynic yearning for the glory days of rugby league, a time when the sponges were magic and the Mondays were mad. He’s never strapped on a boot in his life, and as such, should be taken with a grain of salt.

Read related topics:Adelaide

Original URL: https://www.news.com.au/sport/cricket/test-crickets-ugly-demise-has-reached-a-new-low-in-adelaide/news-story/322eb840f4f19b91b5b0741d80b25152