In they streamed, a steady flow when gates opened at 8.30am becoming near enough to a flood in the 10 minutes before play began at 10am.
Ultimately, nearly 17,000 spectators filed into Adelaide Oval to watch what turned out to be less than a session of cricket on day three. It was, in fact, the shortest-ever Adelaide Test in terms of balls bowled.
Marnus Labuschagne signs autographs in Adelaide after Australia’s Test win over the West Indies.Credit: Getty Images
Incredibly, the gathering to watch about 100 minutes of play was significantly more than the total attendance on day one of the Perth Test against Pakistan in mid-December – the very time slot that the South Australian Cricket Association is so desperate to secure for the next seven years.
The total crowd of 67,050 was better, in two days and one session, than Perth had managed in four.
Warmly as the crowd cheered every West Indian run, especially those clumped by the courageous last man Shamar Joseph, and as heartily as they celebrated Australia’s 10-wicket victory over a touring side heavily weakened by Twenty20 franchises, it was not an entirely happy gathering.
Among the spectators spoken to by this masthead, there was considerable angst at the Wednesday start to the match, the scheduling of the West Indies here two years in a row, and the swift progress of the game to the extent that it was all over before the weekend.
That disquiet was shared in the Committee Room of the SACA, where the association chair Will Rayner and chief executive Charlie Hodgson discussed the future of the Test match with their Cricket Australia opposite numbers Mike Baird and Nick Hockley over the first two days of the game.
At present, the most likely scenario for the next two years is for the Gabba to resume its traditional role as the opening Test of the summer, before Perth and Adelaide follow. The SACA’s preference is for the “Christmas Test” immediately before Boxing Day.
Why 17,000 spectators turned up to see 100 minutes of cricket
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19.01.2024
In they streamed, a steady flow when gates opened at 8.30am becoming near enough to a flood in the 10 minutes before play began at 10am.
Ultimately, nearly 17,000 spectators filed into Adelaide Oval to watch what turned out to be less than a session of cricket on day three. It was, in fact, the shortest-ever Adelaide Test in terms of balls bowled.
Marnus Labuschagne signs autographs in Adelaide after Australia’s Test win over the West Indies.Credit: Getty Images
Incredibly, the........
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