I was just beginning to like Cricket Australia (CA). After years of mindless incompetence and painful mediocrity, the governing body seemed to have got its house in order last summer.
Good management combined with the selection of quality people in the most important jobs saw the national team produce its most fruitful season since 2006/2007.
However, the release of next season’s cricket fixtures has me once again scratching my head at the inner workings of Cricket Australia.
The decision to move the Australia Day one day international match from the redeveloped Adelaide Oval – which has been the home of Australia Day cricket since 1948 – to the SCG, has me extremely confused.
I understand that the 2014/2015 cricket season has been difficult to program due to the 2015 World Cup, but the reasoning surrounding the move of the iconic game from Adelaide to Sydney doesn’t make sense.
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland’s rationality that the packed nature of the schedule meant the fixture had to be compact is just plain laughable. In an era of jet transportation, teams don’t have to take the 72 hour trans-continental railway journey for matches.
Furthermore, why is it so difficult for CA to schedule a match in Adelaide on Australia Day when the next match scheduled after the Australia Day SCG clash is due to be played in Perth?
But it’s more than just logistics that make this decision suck; it’s just wrong.
Sydney already has its own iconic fixture in the New Year Test match, and always gets a premier one day contest and at least one leading T20 match per summer.
Meanwhile, the likes of Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth are left to scrap for the remnants of the summer, as CA continues to dangerously trend towards having all the big contests exclusively in Melbourne and Sydney.
Sydney’s cricket fans will already have plenty of opportunities to see the national team in action next summer with a Test match, three ODIs, one T20 match and a World Cup group match programmed for the city.
Adelaide will host just one T20 contest and a Test match at the oval, and will only host Australia during the World Cup in a quarter final if they finish third.
It’s hardly fair that Sydney receives another ODI contest considering the glut of cricket they will already horde during the coming summer.
Most importantly, Adelaide has more people attend international cricket on a per captia basis than anywhere else in Australia. Numerous times the city has shown its support for Australia Day cricket, with big crowds consistently flocking to the oval, despite the diminishing stature of ODI cricket.
In spite of the historic ground having a restricted capacity of 30,000 last season, 28,000 flocked to the Australia Day match against England, with many more unable to get tickets.
Sydney on the other hand struggles to get crowds of 30,000 for international cricket outside of the Ashes series, with its recent ODI attendances bordering on embarrassing.
Why reward a city that is always struggling to embrace attending live sport with such an important match?
Imagine the outrage in Sydney if the NRL moved a State of Origin contest from Sydney to Melbourne for the simple purpose of logistics. There would be outrage from Botany Bay to Broken Hill.
I hope the move of the Australia Day match from the Adelaide Oval like 2012 (due to redevelopment) and 2003 (the World Cup in South Africa) is a temporary move.
Sydney may have a bigger population but has failed numerous times to consistently support international cricket in the last decade, while Adelaide has helped keep ODI cricket somewhat relevant.
It’s a confusing decision and one I hope that will be corrected in 2016.
Follow John on Twitter @JohnHunt1992
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