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The death of the traditional Adelaide test

Roar Rookie
28th November, 2016
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The pink ball should be the new universal standard in cricket. (AAP Image/James Elsby)
Roar Rookie
28th November, 2016
1

The day-night Adelaide Test is a tradition-smashing, runaway success, there is no way around it.

The consistently strong crowds are proof of Adelaide’s perfection as a host; the closeness of the town for late night strolls after stumps, the festival out the back and the genuinely unbelievable penchant for perfect sunset photos over new stands.

Seminal debate over whether the next Adelaide Ashes Test should involve a pink ball is over and was never going to last – day-night Adelaide Tests are a permanent fixture each summer.

Enjoyable as it all has been, the pink ball has killed the traditional Adelaide Test match.

Both Tests under lights – a quicker, lower scoring thriller against New Zealand and a perfectly narrative-driven win over South Africa – have been high quality, entertaining Australian wins.

But they just haven’t been Adelaide Tests.

While slightly led by David Warner’s bizarre sojourn in the dressing rooms, Faf du Plessis broke a record as the shortest first innings to include a declaration in Test history, pulling the pin after 76 overs.

There is no situation where that could ever have happened at Adelaide before the sunset Instagrams became a key part of the Test match.

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Adelaide Test matches are supposed to be long, arduous slogs of high-scoring batting where fast bowlers fake injuries for the first three days.

450 runs and 120 plus overs were first innings bases before things started to open up after lunch on day four.

The ball starts to spin and keep low, reverse swing kicks into gear and batsmen begin to crumble in the hot sun.

Adelaide Tests are throwback classics, in which five days of quality, or one crazy afternoon, are needed for victory.

Think of Amazing Adelaide: a game in which England declared beyond 550 in the first innings (off 168 overs of course) before Shane Warne’s mental torture opened deep, old wounds on the final day.

Think of the 2003 Indian boilover, in which Ricky Ponting’s masterful 242 and Australia’s 556 was bested by Rahul Dravid and Ajit Agarkar in a wild last two days.

Last time South Africa played at the venue, du Plessis and his stone wall held out Peter Siddle’s 63 overs in the Test and his late desperation for another final day victory.

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Even the most recent Indian battle at Adelaide, in which Nathan Lyon turned things late after Virat Kohli and Murali Vijay got their country to the brink of victory at 2-240 on the final day.

Australian bowler Nathan Lyon

A final day feels a long way off in this second phase of Adelaide Test matches, in which the dying wickets with deep footmarks become more and more enticing to the bowlers.

Eventually, all numbers group together in Test cricket with enough time and long-held beliefs fade into something else or harden into legend.

The pink ball and extra grass at Adelaide will eventually harden into legend, into the ground’s defining characteristics, as firmly as crossing to a Channel Nine commentator sitting out the back of the oval trying to hide his enjoyment of a sneaky drink.

Bowlers who would once disappear over the short square boundaries more often than beating the bat now they queue up to take the new ball come dusk.

This is good for the game, both financially and otherwise, but the pink ball presents a new life for Tests in the city of churches and the legend they carry.

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