1. ADELAIDE MARKS THE BEGINNING OF A NEW ERA IN THE FORM OF D/N TESTS
The youngsters of today, who claim themselves to be representatives of ‘Generation Next’, did not witness Kerry Packer’s revolutionary World Series Cricket staged between 1977 and 1979. Although the series lacked solid ground owing to financial straits and subsequent disapproval by the ICC, it drastically transfigured the mildest of the conservatives in general and showed the cricketing fraternity that the game has the potential to enrapture global markets, if improvised properly. Amusingly, the business tycoon ushered in a far sighted ‘rebellion’ in the form of Super Tests which comprised coloured clothing and the use of floodlights.
Coincidentally, Adelaide Oval testified to something similar on November 27, 2015 (exactly 36 years after the commencement of the erstwhile World Series Cricket) when Australia squared off against New Zealand in the final Test of the 3 match series.
The longest format of the game had been a cause of concern for the ICC up until the inauguration of the D/N Tests for the reason that it was unable to pull enough crowds to the
The match was played with a pink ball under flood lights and the break after the first session was tea instead of the conventional lunch break. While Martin Guptill and Mitchell Starc became the first ever batsman and the first ever bowler to face a ball and bowl a delivery respectively, Tom Latham became the first ever batsman to hit a fifty in the latest edition of Test cricket. The match reached a hasty conclusion on the third day itself as Australia cruised to victory with 3 wickets in hand. Josh Hazlewood was adjudged the Man of the Match for his match figures of 9/136.
The total attendance of the match accounted for 1,23,736 heads which only goes to echo the question, ‘’Why did it take the ICC so long to materialise an idea which was conceived 40 years ago?’’.
It’s better late than never.
2015 has been a landmark year for the game as is evident from the aforementioned 10 points. If this year has been a hundred in the context of cricket, hopefully next year will turn out to be a daddy hundred and will have more surprises in store..
