Adelaide: The little Town that could

The conclusion of the Test Series between Australia and South Africa started off as one-sided and torturous for Australian fans, before becoming interesting, entertaining and full of hope with one small chardonnay-inspired move; to Adelaide.

While the Perth Test is always a boon for the majority of cricket-following Australians, where the 3 hour time difference allows one to get watch (at least) the final session after work.  It almost makes starting an 8-hour day at 9am bearable.  

The result in Perth, a crushing defeat after holding the advantage after the first day was tough to watch, but not apparently for the good people of Western Australia who didn’t appear to turn up at all.  You could argue that there was something better to do, but, well, Perth.

You can’t completely blame them though, while they have had a Test at home regularly for the last 20 years, its hardly received the same promotion or treatment as Melbourne or Sydney, whose dates have been largely locked in over the same period.

The same can be said for the Hobart Test.  While Cricket Australia seems to think it is doing various Capitals a favour by allowing them to host a Test match, they aren’t doing a lot to create interest or attraction to the game.

Doing anything outdoors in Tasmania in November is fraught with enough danger, but attempting a summer sport is just madness.  That the team was able to travel to the ground by snow-skiing over the Derwent River should have caused concerns.

The lack of interest in the game wasn't helped by the state of the Australian team, which seemed more like a boat struggling across the Tasman sea during the Sydney to Hobart race, though perhaps involving more players brothers storming off.

Then came Adelaide and for perhaps the first time in history, it seemed to fix everything.

Watching the game on television provided a real spectacle, not just on the field but off it too.  The sunsets were spectacular, the ground resplendent and you would think only an OLED TV could make the black colours stand out as much as they did.

In and around the ground a large crowd converged and created an energy about the game.  It reminded me of the Melbourne Cup, just without the images of young women assaulting police or people being pulled out of Rose Bushes.  It looked like people were enjoying the event and that it was being made accessible to all.

On the ground, the game itself suddenly became a contest, with the bowlers getting the advantage, enabling Australia to take wickets when in the field and hold out like Bill Lawry with the bat.

It's a real credit to the good people at the South Australian Cricket Association that they’ve been able to make the Test into such an enjoyable and accessible event in such a short period of time.

It is in Crickets best interest to expand to grow to survive, rather than retract, so six Test Matches (one in each Capital) through the Australian summer would be the logical extension of this approach, but only if they are events that people are drawn to.

They don't have to be six-Test series, they could be 2 three-Test Series, or even 3 two-Test Series.  How else are we ever going to see Bangladesh play here?

Melbourne has the Boxing Day Test, Sydney has the New Year Test and Adelaide seems to have successfully captured interest through its Day-Night Test; so what are we to do to get the other half right?

To start with, giving each ground a set date or order in the sequence of Tests would make sense (e.g. Melbourne with the Boxing Day Test).  This would enable the locals to plan around the event and for the organisers to promote it on the local calendar. 

There is also the opportunity for change along these lines; the Sydney Test could be held over the Australia Day weekend, enabling it to access a broad market while also cashing in on all sorts of Australiana.  This would also enable Hobart to take over the New Years Test, allowing the match to be played in sunny conditions and coinciding with the finish of the boat race.

As for Perth and Brisbane, well, I don't have all the answers.

So Three cheers for Adelaide for saving the Test series and showing the others how to do it, pie floaters all round.