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.
caspian
Guest
The thing I tend to go back to is the pitches- good pitch, good match (most of the time). Half the reason adelaide's d/n test was so gripping was because of the pitch! You want the gabba test to be entertaining- make the pitch a good contest. Same with the WACA.
BrainsTrust
Guest
Cricket Australia would make the players wear lingerie if they thought it would bring an extra buck in. Of course it would only be the secondary nations drawn into this sort of business. Don;t expect to see India or England agreeing to a pink ball test in the next hundred years. The Tv ratings for tests are actually just as valuable to TV networks in the daytime,because they are so high above the average for the time period. Its more the corporate booze crowd and attendances that will bring in the extra money. As far as flat wickets, Steve Waugh only drew about 12% of his matches and wickets were flat then. To makes sure he won as many matches as possible his policy was belt runs at a fast rate. Then make good declarations and set arttacking fields and don't let up on the fields if the opposition belted a few. The best Test series in recent time in Australia was Australia vs India when Australia was without McGrath and Warne, and had all sort of injury woes with bowlers. and the wickets were flat..
BurgyGreen
Guest
I agree. The pitches for the last two seasons have disgraceful. Probably the work of visionless administrators only interested in producing a short-term profit at the expense of the sport's long-term health.
Niranjan Deodhar
Roar Pro
To be honest as a non-Aussie, the Tests in Australia have become less interesting of-late. Some 10-15 odd years earlier, watching Tests of Australian summer used to fun. And the reason is simple, the wickets have gone from bad to worse. Lack of sporting pitches and pitches tailor-made for batting draw huge amount of runs from both the sides and then it becomes no contest whatsoever. Gabba wicket has become an absolute belter, no one fears WACA any more. Test against NZ at WACA last summer was an absolute dead rubber. The wickets even against India in previous summer were absolutely flat with nothing in them for bowlers. No wonder people in Australia have started to dislike Test Cricket. Who will come to watch a Test match like the one that took place at Perth last summer? Its high time curators start prepare sporting wickets and revive the people's interest in Test Cricket. Sporting wickets will certainly bring back huge amount of crowds for Test matches.