The New South Wates government has allowed only 25 percent of the crowd capacity in the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) for the New Year’s Test between India and hosts Australia, starting January 7.
According to the seating capacity at the SCG, approximately 9000 fans will be allowed to enter the stadium on each day of the Test match.
It was not ideal for Cricket Australia and the sport in general to have a restricted crowd given the status of the evenly poised series at the moment. However, the COVID-19 cases that are on a rise in the state meant that life cannot return to normalcy in Sydney soon.
Nick Hockley, CEO of Cricket Australia, said in a statement, “Reducing the capacity of the venue is crucial in achieving social distancing requirements, and we sincerely thank ticket-holders for their patience, as we process refunds today, reconfigure the SCG seating plan to deliver these social distancing measures and go back on sale.”
The SCG had earlier hosted the first two ODIs and the final two T20Is with a larger crowd. The ODI series had only 50% of the crowd but the number had gone up till 80% for the shorter format of the game due to the not-so-dangerous situation of COVID-19 in Sydney.
Venues NSW Chair Tony Shepherd said, “In response to the public health situation in NSW, we are working closely with Venues NSW and NSW Health to put appropriate bio-security measures in place for our staff, players, match officials, broadcasters and fans to ensure we play the third Test at the SCG safely.”
(With inputs from PTI)
