Australia hanker for a day-night Test, but the Proteas are just not interested
CRICKET Australia (CA) is mightily peeved at Cricket SA, if an inanimate corporate body is capable of expressing emotion towards another corporate body.
It hasn’t come to public words yet, so we cannot ascribe names to the acrimony, but they might start today when CA announces the dates and venues for the three-match Test series between the countries in November.
Breaking with tradition, the first Test will not be at Brisbane’s Gabba stadium, but at Perth’s Waca in order to capitalise on the attendance of the many “Boat People”, as South African immigrants are known in Western Australia — because they own one, not because they arrived on one.
The second Test will be in the Tasmania capital of Hobart, which just managed to retain its status as the country’s sixth Test venue following a vigorous campaign from the ACT Cricket Association in the national capital of Canberra.
So far, so good. SA have played a Test in Perth on each of their past three tours, chasing a record 414 in the fourth innings to win eight years ago, and then winning the series there with an epic victory by 309 runs.
Hobart is truly second division and has only ever hosted “junior” teams from around the world. But ever since Cricket SA chose not to sacrifice its festive season fixtures once every four years in order to play the Boxing Day and New Year Tests at the MCG and SCG, that is what they have become — junior tourists.
But Hobart is a seriously attractive location with a wonderful waterfront and exquisite restaurants, perfect just in case the wives and girlfriends care to join their men there.
The third Test will be played in historic Adelaide with its historic Oval overlooked by its historic cathedral. The tennis court lawns behind the pavilion are decked for their own protection and sprawling marquees seating thousands ensure it is a festive affair. No team could possibly complain about being scheduled to play at the Adelaide Oval.
Some give-and-take and compromise took place between the two boards before the schedule was agreed upon, but that is normal. CA didn’t want the first Test to start before the running of the iconic Melbourne Cup horse race, and Cricket SA wanted its players back before the December holidays in order to play in the Ram Slam T20.
Both got their wish. So why the rancour?
CA are still beaming after the commercial success of the inaugural day-night Test against New Zealand last year and are desperate to keep the innovation moving forward.
Just as it did last year, the Adelaide Oval and South Australia Cricket Association are anxious to recreate the unique atmosphere that kept the place buzzing as more than 140,000 came. Cricket SA said “no thanks”. There are sound, cricketing reasons to have done so, although it seems a pity to rule yourself out of a good party.
The Australians feel it goes further than that — ruining the party for everyone else.
“Not a single one of our players has played with the pink ball under lights at any level of cricket and there are still significant on-field concerns,” said Tony Irish, SA Cricketers Association CEO.
“A number of players from both teams said they had trouble seeing the ball in the evening and that conditions had to be doctored to preserve the condition of the ball.
“The players are not against the concept or anti-innovation, but feel that this is still very experimental and this is obviously a key series for them. They don’t want to be in unfamiliar conditions in what could be a match which decides the series,” Irish said.
But there are still six months to go and you can rest assured that CA will stop at nothing to persuade Cricket SA and the players to change their minds. They were aware of the scepticism 10 days ago, which is why they fed the story to the Sydney Morning Herald, putting an unprepared Cricket SA on the back foot and making certain they would look like the bad guys if they said “no”.
Most executive boards of most sports in most countries have some idea of how to use the media strategically and, for the most part, it makes little difference to a sports journalist if they can write a breaking news story after spending eight hours waiting at an airport, or whether it is handed to them by a CE.
CA want this day-nighter — really want it. They paid New Zealand Cricket a million dollar “incentive” to agree to play last year, but have said they won’t repeat the payment to any other country. Even if they did, it seems unlikely to persuade the players.