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Sydney: Australia could abandon tradition and stage an Ashes Test at the 80,000-seat Olympic stadium instead of the Sydney Cricket Ground.
New South Wales state cricket administrators are in negotiations with the Sydney Cricket Ground, venue of 97 Test matches dating back to 1882, over its contract beyond 2010, Australian media reported on Thursday. The fifth Ashes Test against England would usually start in 3rd January, 2011.
Cricket NSW chief David Gilbert said he was considering its options and hadn't ruled out moving the Test, although it would appear unlikely.
The same speculation arose when the state cricket board and the SCG negotiated the current contract five years ago.
Australia has an excellent record at the SCG, where it has only lost three Tests since 1980, including the last match in the 2003 Ashes series after it had already won the first four Tests.
The former Olympic stadium "is focused on getting a major cricket match to its venue," Gilbert was quoted as saying. "I know Test cricket will be a difficult one to do at this stage and you have to weigh up tradition and history and the drama at the SCG.
But, "If you take the heat and emotion out of it, as CEO of cricket NSW, I have to do what is best for cricket to generate revenue to keep this game going, and this is what this process is about."
The stadium's managing director Daryl Kerry told The Australian newspaper that his focus was more on one-day international and Twenty20 cricket "because these forms of the game have a natural fit with the stadium as major events with a broad audience appeal."
