Cricket fans call for New Year’s Test to be taken AWAY from Sydney due to wet weather

Sydney’s habit of turning on the wet weather for the annual New Year’s Test has finally worn off among fans and pundits, many of whom are calling for the event to be moved away from the port city.

Steady rain washed away the entire Friday morning session, after downpours and poor light due to overcast conditions robbed fans of more than 50 playing overs over the first two days of the match between Australia and South Africa in the SCG.

Jane McGrath Day festivities, one of the highlights of Australia’s cricket calendar when spectators dress in pink to raise money for the fight against breast cancer, had to be postponed and fans had to play their own impromptu game behind one of the stands on the famous ground.

The only people spectators saw out on the SCG lawn on Friday were the referees and field staff, as the game was swept away by heavy rain, and many fans have had enough.

The stands should have been full for Jane McGrath Day, one of the highlights of the cricket calendar, but the festivities had to be postponed until Saturday due to weather.

It’s not the first time the action has disappeared, with meteorologist Thomas Saunders noting that rain has affected Test cricket 64 per cent of the time over the last eight years in Sydney.

ABC sports analyst Ric Finlay has also found that 25 of the last 110 days of Test cricket played at the SCG have been scrapped, compared to just nine days out of 115 at the MCG.

Last summer’s spin king Shane Warne suggested a possible solution when he noted that “it always seems to rain in the Test match.”

“Imagine if the tourists and any opposition teams came here to Sydney and had 10 days in port and relaxed, prepared and then played the first Test in Sydney instead of the fourth Test,” he said.

Shane Warne pointed to the problem last summer when he suggested that Sydney hold the first Test of the summer rather than the last, because “it always seems to rain” in early January.

That call to shift the New Year’s clash away from the port city has now been embraced by many fans on social media.

‘Six of the last 7 test matches at SCG interrupted by rain, 4 of the last 7 draws. @CricketAus if it doesn’t work you should try something different,’ Sean O’Reilly tweeted.

“Beyond the usual interstate banter and the fanciful notion of indoor arenas, there is an absolutely serious conversation about the Sydney Test schedule in the future,” wrote Brett Sprigg.

Many fans are calling for Warne’s plan to be put into action, but the Cricket Australia chief executive has poured cold water on the prospect.

One die-hard cricket managed to see the lighter side of another day lost to bad weather in the port city.

“Obviously for a city that loses more Test crickets to rain than Manchester, the SCG have even managed to sell advertising space on their large rain covers,” added Isabelle Westbury.

“Apart from the fact that it always rains, the course doesn’t tend to break down and it’s usually dead rubber, the Sydney Test is a great event,” Daniel Cherny joked.

‘Request to move the pink test to a better climate. Hobart’ added another fan.

However, Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley has rejected any possibility of Sydney swapping the new year test with another city.

“It’s an iconic event on the sports calendar, people plan all their vacations around it. Yesterday we saw 30,000 people leave,’ he said Thursday.

‘Particularly now with the pink test in its 15th year and the positive impact. There’s a lot going on on the pitch, but obviously we all want to see as much of the game as possible.”