Test cricket at the Gabba needs saving, and a mid-summer fixture under lights with a pink ball might be the perfect tonic according to Ryan Harris.
Cricket Australia (CA) are expected to announce their 2016-17 schedule this month, where it is believed Brisbane will be stripped of the honour of hosting the first Test of the summer.
Instead, the WACA, owing to the west-coast time zone, will host the Test series-opener against South Africa, with the Gabba to stage a day-night series opener against Pakistan later in the summer.
And while Harris isn’t entirely in favour of the schedule swap, he can see the benefits of replicating last year’s pink-ball Adelaide Test in Brisbane.
“To keep Test cricket in Brisbane then that’s got to be done,” the former Australian fast bowler told SEN Breakfast.
“People want to see Test cricket, I know there are people here that want to watch it – they have to make this change.”
Australia have not been beaten in a Test at the Gabba in the past 27 years, however crowds have began to dwindle in the Queensland capital in non-Ashes years.
Just 53,572 fans turned out across the five days of the Test against New Zealand last year, which was slightly up on the 44,264 aggregate crowd from the four days against India the previous summer.
In comparison, the Adelaide Oval, which will against host a day-night Test against South Africa next summer, attracted 123,736 fans across the three days of the pink-ball clash last year.
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