NT Cricket applies for six month trial of brighter Gardens Oval lights

NT Cricket has applied to trial night cricket games under lights at Gardens Oval during the 2021 domestic season

NT Cricket has applied to trial night cricket games under lights at Gardens Oval during the 2021 domestic season.

The lights are allowed to be used at a strength of 300 lux on Fridays and Saturdays so premier league football could be played at the ground.

But senior cricket requires a brightness of 500 lux so NT Cricket has lodged an application with the City of Darwin to trial the night games from April to September.

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The proposal will seek to approve use of 500 lux lighting on Thursday nights to allow cricket matches to coincide with the Mindil Beach Sunset Markets across the road.

NT Cricket chief executive Joel Morrison’s proposal to the council will maximise fixture opportunities to allow all players and grades to play at cooler times of the day.

“It is proposed that 500 lux lighting is used in order to maximise use of the facility through junior and senior fixtures,” he said.

“A minimum of 500 lux is required for senior cricket under Cricket Australia’s lighting standard guidelines to ensure the safety of players and match officials due to the power and strength of the respective bowlers and batters.”

NT Cricket has applied to trial night cricket games under lights at Gardens Oval during the 2021 domestic season. Picture: Will Zwar

Darwin resident Dan Leather said the existing lights had been less intrusive than he and other residents had feared.

“They’ve had them on for the footy and they haven’t really affected us. I think they made a few adjustments to them at the start,” he said.

“It’s not shining into us, we just want to make sure we get them right.”

Mr Leather said most of the residents were concerned about the brightness of the lights given the proposal had been made to support all sporting participants.

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“The main thing is we want to make sure there’s no excess spill and what we wanted to point out was the funding was for junior and female participation (who may not require such strong level of lighting),” he said.

“That’s what we were arguing about, junior participation is junior participation.”

Council staff have recommended elected members approve the trial as long as they inform residents before it is beginning.

Darwin council will vote on the application at tonight’s meeting.