Day-night Ashes Test on the agenda: Sutherland

Cricket Australia Chief Executive James Sutherland has confirmed it would be a “natural progression” for the first day-night Ashes Test to be played in Australia when cricket’s most famous battle resumes in two years from now.

But he is not quite as confident that the SCG’s push to host two Test matches during the next Australia summer, including an historic day-night match against South Africa towards the end of this year, will meet with success.

Chair of the SCG Trust, Tony Shepherd AO, told a luncheon at the Test venue yesterday that the traditional home of the New Year’s Test was looking to host a second match during the 2016-17 summer which – like this season – will see six Tests played between October and January.

With Pakistan scheduled to fill the bill during the peak Christmas-New Year period when CA is committed to playing Test matches during traditional daytime hours, the Trust is keen to also host the Proteas who (like New Zealand earlier this summer) will tour earlier in the season.

Which would also allow the venue that hosted the historic first day-night one-day international between Australia and the West Indies in 1978 to host a pink-ball Test in addition to their marquee New Year match that begins in early January.

The push would bring the SCG directly into conflict with the Tasmania Cricket Association whose claims on hosting a Test at Blundstone Arena during six-Test summers is seen as the most tenuous of the State associations, given the low turn-outs at recent Hobart Tests.

And the TCA has already found itself in a battle with Cricket ACT which is actively eyeing the opportunity to host its inaugural Test match at Manuka Oval in the near future, potentially at the expense of a Hobart fixture.

“An early summer day-night Test at Sydney Cricket Ground would have to be a chance to draw a crowd greater than the 44,377 who watched that first day nighter in ’78,” Shepherd told the lunch that was attended by Sutherland and CA Chairman David Peever.

“Cricket works in Sydney, it works at the Sydney Cricket Ground because we are connected to the CBD and in the heart of the most densely populated suburbs in Australia.

"The New Year’s Test is the single largest sporting event each year in New South Wales.

“Forget about State of Origins, Bledisloe Cups and grand finals, the New Year’s Test creates more jobs, fills more hotel rooms and generates more economic turnover for NSW than any other regular event.”

It is understood that consideration might also be given to push for the traditional New Year Test to be played as a day-night fixture, given that its start has now been pushed back to January 3 (or later) by which time many have returned to work after their Christmas Break.

But it is believed that the Trust does not support that line of thinking as it sees its marquee Test working best when played during the day.

While Cricket Australia has yet to confirm the international schedule for next summer and beyond, Sutherland told cricket.com.au today it would represent a “significant break” from historic fixturing and CA’s commitment to sharing matches evenly around the nation to play one third of a six-Test summer in one city.

“I know that it came up in Tony Shepherd’s lunch speech (on day one at the SCG) and it’s something we’ll deal with on a season-by-season basis,” Sutherland said.

“But it’s fair to say that it would be a significant break from recent tradition to award two Test matches to one particular city.

“We’ll think about it in due course, but we certainly don’t underestimate the value of the SCG and playing Test matches in big cities like Sydney.

“But we’ve also got an obligation and a policy around the international program to share content around the country.”

Asked whether CA was open to bidding from Australian Test venues other than Adelaide Oval – which staged the world’s first day-night Test that featured New Zealand last November – for the right to stage future pink-ball Tests, Sutherland replied “not at this stage”.

The ICC Cricket 360 show looks back on the Adelaide Test

But given the success of the Adelaide Test that drew more than 120,000 spectators across its three days - as well as CA’s stated preference to maintain the traditional Boxing Day and New Year Tests in their current format during peak holiday season – he concedes there are few, and obvious, alternatives.

“We’ll do our own analysis on that, we’ll have our own discussions with the relevant authorities – both cricket authorities and government authorities – but it doesn’t take too much to narrow it down,” Sutherland said on ABC Radio Grandstand prior to the resumption of the rain-interrupted second day of the third Test against the West Indies today.

“If you look at Adelaide as a lock given the recent experience, and Perth is out of the question because it’s a different time zone, then it’s a matter of Hobart and Brisbane and we’ll look very closely at those.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt about the reality of sport being played in the evening.

“The facts are that people have the time to be able to sit at home in their lounge room, or to finish work or finish school and come to matches.

“It’s a trend that is consistent across the world in so many different sports, and cricket pleasingly is in that place.

“Not only with T20 cricket and one-day cricket where it’s been for a long time, but now Test cricket.

“It just adds a lot of flexibility for cricket and pleasingly, as we saw in Adelaide with the success of that Test match, we’ve got proof of concept here around Test cricket.

“And right place, right time, right conditions we’re going to see more Test cricket played in the evenings.”

However, Sutherland responded to a report in an English newspaper over the weekend that the traditional Ashes opener at the Gabba might be in line for a switch to the day-night format for the next battle between cricket’s oldest rivals in 2017-18.

The UK’s ‘Sunday Times’ reported yesterday that the next Ashes Test match could be staged under floodlights “according to plans being discussed by the two countries”.

But Sutherland confirmed today that no such formal conversations had yet taken place, although CA’s commitment to playing day-night Test cricket would be well known to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) as well as other Test playing nations that tour Australia during the southern summer.

And given the expectation that Adelaide Oval will host either South Africa or Pakistan in a pink-ball Test next summer and that Test matches under lights will become an increasingly regular part of the Australia summer, the prospect of a day-night Ashes Test is not so much ‘if’ as ‘where’.

“It is certainly on the radar,” Sutherland said today when asked if the game’s longest-running tradition will soon embrace its newest format.

“We haven’t had any formal conversations with the ECB but we do see with the success of the Adelaide Test there’s a sense of anticipation that we will have at least one day-night Test match next year, which we again hope will be a great success.”

“And it seems like it would be a natural progression to see a day-night Ashes Test in 2017-18.”

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