SCG boss flags HUGE change to New Year’s Test after fans called for Sydney to have match taken away

SCG Trust chairman Tony Shepherd insists the Sydney Test must be played on its New Year’s schedule despite weather concerns, but would be willing to re-envision it as a day-night match to combat bad disruptions of light.

Six of the last seven SCG Tests have been interrupted by rain and downpours, and on Friday there was no play between Australia and South Africa.

That has prompted new calls to shift the SCG test to a time slot less likely to be affected by rain.

Last summer, the late Shane Warne suggested that Sydney could swap the Tests with Brisbane to host the season opener in early December.

But Shepherd said the SCG would not give up its New Year’s time slot, despite acknowledging that the La Niña weather pattern of the past two years had highlighted the rough weather on the ground.

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

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

The late 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.

This is the tradition. We just have to live with the weather,’ Shepherd said on SEN on Saturday.

“Here it rains a bit and sometimes it interrupts the game, but we have to overcome that.”

“It’s going to be a good season next year because I think we’re going to have El Niño (weather pattern) next year, which means we’re going to be in the middle of a drought.”

After bad light forced two play stoppages on the first day against South Africa, Shepherd met with Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley.

While Hockley previously said he was hopeful that the SCG’s reflector upgrades would avoid similar delays in the future, Shepherd suggested that Sydney could follow Adelaide’s lead and stage a day-night test with a pink ball.

The brighter color of the pink ball makes it more visible than the traditional red ball and allows play to continue in the dark under lights.

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 staunch cricket managed to see the lighter side of another day lost to bad weather in Harbor City.

Star Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne doesn’t think pink ball trials are the answer going forward in Sydney

“We could do a day and night or we could just use a pink ball for the whole game,” Shepherd said.

“The alternative would be if you had that kind of light problem towards the end of the day, just have a bag of pink balls in there and replace them.”

At stumps on the first day, Australian batsman Marnus Labuschagne rejected the idea of ​​substituting a pink ball for the red ball, as the balls do not react in the same way when bowled.

But Shepherd said the fans had to be taken into account.

“From my point of view, cricket and all elite sports survive because of the fans,” he said.

‘The show must go on. We should do everything in our power to make sure that those (walkouts) don’t happen again.’