Keith Bradshaw of South Australian Cricket Association (SACA) has welcomed the return of the day-night Test to the Adelaide Oval for next season and expects it to bring back those who gave the annual fixture a miss last year owing to India's refusal to play with The pink ball.
He stated that not having a Test under lights for the first time since 2014 had resulted in financial losses not just for the association but for the city of Adelaide and even the state itself. The total attendance over five days for the closely-fought contest, Which India won in the end, was recorded at 112, 868. In contrast, the day-night Ashes Test 12 months earlier had witnessed an overall record attendance of 199, 147.
"We had 15,000 fewer interstate visitors staying in the city as compared to the previous year during the Test. We called those who'd come then but didn't this time to know the reason why. Was it because of the issues in South Africa But the Australian team not winning much? But 99 per cent of them said they didn't because it wasn't a night Test," Bradshaw told CricBuzz.
The former Tasmanian cricketer turned administrator though is confident of a course correction in the attendance figures when Pakistan takes the field with a pink ball in November. For, as Bradshaw says, the Adelaide Oval has broken records every time it's held a day-night Test.
"The very first one we did with New Zealand, we were 45,000 up from the previous time they played in Adelaide. Then the next year, when we had South Africa, we were 55,000 up from the previous time they played here, and we were About 70,000 up for the Ashes Test," said Bradshaw.
AFP/ Ishara S Kodikara
