Cricket Australia boss Nick Hockley has rebuffed the latest push from sports broadcaster Gerard Whateley for a later start to the Boxing Day Test – advocating for the tradition of the occasion.
Whateley has been a leading voice in the push for the first ball to be pushed back from its traditional 10.30am AEDT start – suggesting a midday start would be superior, and allow for play to go through until 7pm, as it did on Tuesday due to rain delays.
Crowd numbers for Tuesday showed 34,000 fans in attendance for the first ball, while the number grew to 52,000 by midday and more than 60,000 after lunch.
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Still, Hockley remained unconvinced, pointing to a jam-packed cricket schedule which included two Big Bash matches which were played after the full day of Test cricket.
“The great thing is we got to play through until 7pm last night (after the rain),” Hockley said on SEN.
“Even for those who had a bit of a lie in, I’m really thrilled that – credit to the ground staff – people got back on.
“That’s something you’ll keep advocating for but traditional is a wonderful thing.
“You had two wonderful Big Bash matches to watch later on.”
The final attendance on Boxing Day – 62,167 – fell short of the record against Pakistan of 63,478 in 2016.
