Australia’s captain, Pat Cummins, has endorsed Adelaide Oval as the preferred venue for the country’s pink-ball Test matches. This year’s pink-ball Test in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between Australia and India will take place at Adelaide Oval.
The venue has a strong record with pink-ball Tests, having never lost a day-night match there since the format began with a game against New Zealand in 2015. Cummins highlighted Adelaide’s expertise in hosting these matches. “Adelaide do (pink-ball Tests) really well. The main thing that you’ll hear from all the players, and it’s super consistent, is you’ve got to get the conditions right for a pink-ball Test.”
He added, “Pink-ball Test matches can be a wonderful balance between bat and ball, or if the conditions aren’t quite right, they can be quite boring Test matches. Adelaide has always done it really well, so if they move it away from Adelaide, whoever takes that up, as long as you get the conditions right, it shouldn’t be too different.”
Cummins also noted the impact of the pink ball’s condition on the game, saying, “If (the pink ball) gets too soft it’s like a one-day ball, it can get really benign. It just reacts a little bit differently to a red ball. As I said, Adelaide every year has got it spot on,” he said during CA’s Play Cricket Week launch in Sydney on Monday.
Adelaide Oval was the site where India was dismissed for just 36 in the second innings during a day-night Test against Australia, leading to an eight-wicket loss in December 2020.
This year, the Gabba in Brisbane hosted the pink-ball Test between Australia and the West Indies, which the visitors won by eight runs thanks to Shamar Joseph’s remarkable 7-68. The Gabba is set to host next year’s day-night Ashes Test.
When asked if it would be beneficial to fix a single venue for pink-ball Tests each summer, Cummins responded, “Ideally having some uncertainty around the schedule does help with home advantage. Having some kind of consistency to help the groundstaff out, that probably would be beneficial.”
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