If ever there was an advertisement to keep the New Year’s Test in Sydney it came in the sea of pink that washed over the SCG on day three against Pakistan.
Some 32,061 fans were in the stadium by lunch on Jane McGrath Day, the crown jewel of the McGrath Foundation’s Pink Test, which is now into its 16th year.
Most wore pink and all were encouraged by legendary fast bowler Glenn McGrath to donate as the foundation looks to provide more in-home nurses for breast cancer patients.
More attended the first session than turned out to see the retiring David Warner resume at the crease on day two, such is the pride of place the Pink Test holds for the Sydney sporting public.
Questions as to Sydney’s right to host the New Year’s Test have become just as regular a part of the Australian sporting calendar.
Inclement weather is often chief among the detractors’ concerns – rain has interrupted seven of the last eight New Year’s Tests in Sydney.
But Adelaide’s push for a marquee Test makes a more legitimate case.
Adelaide has emerged as the biggest loser across the last two summers, first hosting a hapless West Indies outfit as part of a two-match series that began the 2022/23 Test calendar.
Perth, the other city to welcome the West Indies last summer, earned an upgraded fixture this year – the first of three matches in the series with Pakistan in a mid-December timeslot.
But Adelaide has been relegated to a January fixture against the Windies, after being denied the chance to host a day-night Test against Pakistan in December.
Last May, SACA chief executive Charlie Hodgson said prising the New Year’s Test from Sydney was “still on the table” as Adelaide prepare to host marquee opponents India and England in 2025 and 2026.
Cricket Australia is finalising a long-term scheduling plan which they hope will give more clarity to states in what parts of the summer they will be hosting Tests and against who years in advance.
But gazing across a packed and pink SCG on Friday, it was hard to envisage the New Year’s fixture working quite so well outside McGrath’s home ground and the site of his final Test match.
“The SCG is my home ground and my favourite ground in the world as well,” McGrath said at a function for the Australian and Pakistan teams this week.
“To now be part of it (the Sydney Test) through the McGrath Foundation is something very special.”
