SCG open to day-night Tests

The Sydney Cricket Ground is open to the prospect of a pink-ball Test but won’t actively campaign for it.

The SCG Test played under lights is something that could come into play in the future

The Sydney Cricket Ground is open to the prospect of a pink-ball Test but won’t actively campaign for it.

Cricket Australia has indicated in the past that it is comfortable with the two marquee Tests at the MCG and SCG remaining as traditional daytime matches.

However, with television ratings and crowd numbers all pointing towards pink-ball Tests becoming more prevalent, SCG chairman Tony Shepherd says the famous ground is open to discussing a landmark change to the scheduling of its New Year’s Test.

“We’d be interested in discussing it,” Shepherd told The Australian. “We’re not out there promoting it. We’d be interested in it. It’d be entirely up to Cricket Australia. We’re not actively pursuing it.”

Shepherd said no discussions with Cricket Australia had taken place.

If CA was open to the prospect of expanding its pink-ball empire to the country’s biggest market, it’s likely the SCG would look at it positively.

However, Shepherd said the SCG would have to also weigh up the potential ramifications of moving away from the traditional red-ball format, particularly given the Sydney Test falls in the heart of school holidays.

Australia’s Steve Smith faces a pink ball in the nets at Perth

Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth are now all preferring day-night fixtures, with the only apparent obstacle to a pink-ball revolution being the reluctance of some opposing nations to play in them.

BCCI boss Sourav Ganguly has indicated India would only agree to one pink-ball game in Australia next summer, while it’s unknown how England would react to an Ashes schedule with more than one pink-ball match.

WACA chief Christina Matthews said yesterday that night-time cricket was the future, and hoped it could become a regular event for Perth.

“Over time, as we’ve seen with one-day cricket and footy, night sport is what people eventually want to go to,” Matthews said.

“I think that will continue with Test cricket. It will be interesting to see what (CA) do against England in terms of more than just Adelaide (as a pink-ball venue). As time goes by we will see more and more of them.”

Meanwhile, Adam Gilchrist believes the era of automatic entitlement is over in Test cricket and quipped it might be time to send a truckload of Perth’s most prized real estate across the Nullarbor to save the embattled MCG.

The Test great said he would hate to see the tradition of the Boxing Day Test taken away from Melbourne, but admits Cricket Australia must keep that option on the table should the tired old MCG wicket block keep failing.

Perth Stadium proudly unveiled a Test strip yesterday which will maintain the fiery traditions of the wild west in temperatures tipped to soar past 50 degrees out in the middle.

Curator Brett Sipthorpe set the cat among the pigeons by declaring the prospect of “all hell breaking loose” for batsmen on a pitch Test legend Sachin Tendulkar last year lauded as the benchmark for keeping Test cricket alive and buzzing.

Gilchrist asked the bold question, why successful drop-ins from Perth or Adelaide couldn’t be transported to the MCG as a solution to the embarrassing plight of the country’s most iconic ground.

Sipthorpe cast doubt over whether that was realistic but leading figures in South Australian cricket confirmed that it could be done.

Either way, Gilchrist says the heat should be on the MCG to deliver if it is to maintain its stranglehold over Boxing Day.

“There’s no God-given right. It would be a shame to see it leave there. But if they can’t produce it, other options probably should be taken into account.”

The Daily Telegraph