There are rising requires the SCG Test to be moved from its conventional New Year’s slot to higher go well with Sydney’s climate situations.
This 12 months’s SCG Test has as soon as once more been affected by rain. Bad mild and showers reduce day 1 quick by a number of hours and day 3 was deserted with out a ball being bowled due to fixed rain.
Five of the final eight SCG Tests have resulted in a draw and the present Test seems headed the identical means except Australia take 14 wickets to say a miracle win over South Africa.
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The sample of rain in Sydney within the New Year is turning into unattainable to disregard and it’s prompted many to recommend shifting the SCG Test to a different time in the summertime — doubtlessly to early December.
“I think I would have this Test in early December in Sydney, I would make it a pink ball Test to match the pink Test, this has become the pink Test so make it day-night,” sports activities broadcaster Gerard Whateley stated on SEN.
“I would bring the summer to its climax in Adelaide, and I would probably make that a pink ball Test as well.
“This is the problem, it’s well patronised (and) it’s a fixture on the calendar but it’s five times more likely than any other city in this week to be disrupted by rain.
“At what point do we say, ‘Hey, we have the evidence here, it’s not quite the spectacle it should because of the weather’.
“Start at the Gabba … come through Sydney, then go to Perth, Melbourne on Boxing (Day), then bring it to its full fruition in Adelaide.”
Sydney has overtaken Manchester as town with probably the most full days washed out in Tests in Australia.
The harbour metropolis has considerably extra annual rainfall than different Australian cities, which means shifting the SCG Test isn’t any assure it received’t merely be rained out at a unique time of 12 months.
Nonetheless, SCG Trust Chairman stated the New Year’s Test is off limits for different states.
“There is absolutely no way the New Year’s match is being moved from the SCG,” Shepherd advised Fox Sports News.
“It’s a long tradition, it’s a fantastic tradition. We had 22,000 people waiting for the game to start. That’s how dedicated we are.
“There is absolutely no chance. We’ve had La Nina for the last three years and that hasn’t happened for a long time. That’s made it wetter.
“It’s something we have to live with. We do live with it.”
“I think this is the tradition and we’ve just got to live with the climate,” Shepherd advised SEN.
“I had a chat yesterday with (Cricket Australia CEO) Nick Hockley.
“I raised with him a couple of options there and I said, ‘Well look, we could make it a pink ball Test’. And one of our directors suggested, ‘Why don’t we have a pink ball test and sell the balls after the game and put the proceeds into the McGrath Foundation’.
“Or the alternative would be if you had that sort of light issue towards the end of the day, just have a bag of pink balls there, worn ones and substitute them.”
Shepherd stated he’d be open to the SCG New Year’s Test being a day-night match.
“I would, absolutely. We could do a day night or just use a pink ball the whole game,” he stated.
“I think it would be quite good, I’m sure the McGrath Foundation would love it too with the pink ball at the Pink Test.”
But regardless of the rising calls to shift the SCG Test someplace else on the calendar, cricket bosses appear to consider the familiarity with the fixture and the McGrath Foundation Pink Test is one thing they don’t need to change.
“I think it’s an iconic event on the sporting calendar, people plan their entire holiday’s around it, we saw over 30,000 people come out on day one,” Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley stated.
“Particularly now with the Pink Test… There’s so much going on and around the ground, but obviously we all want to see as much cricket as possible.”
