Even as reports do the round that the Adelaide Oval in South Australia could potentially replace the MCG in Victoria as host of next summer's Australia-India Boxing Day Test in wake of rising COVID-19 cases, Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) Trust chairman Tony Shepherd said the SCG wouldn't mind putting its hat in the ring either.
With New South Wales doing significantly better than Victoria in terms of the health infections, the SCG, which annually hosts the New Year's Test, has also emerged as a suitable venue for the traditional encounter from December 26-30.
Of course, a final decision on the matter will be taken by Cricket Australia (CA), which won't be leaving any stone unturned to try and safely host the Indians for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy.
"We'd be very happy to host it because it's a major event and it's good for Sydney, and people like coming to Sydney, and we have the capacity to host it if that's what Cricket Australia want to do," Shepherd told the Sydney Morning Herald.
If CA does go down that path, that could mean a double-header in the city. Shepherd said the Indian community in Sydney would definitely enjoy watching the visiting team twice in two weeks.
"They would love both events, a double-header would be fabulous," he said.
However, any such thoughts will have to put to rest if the CA opts to create bio-secure bubbles in Adelaide and Perth, largely unscathed from the viral outbreak and having hotels adjacent to the ground, for the entire four-match Test series.
"It comes down to if we can get a crowd at the MCG, we'll play at the MCG," CA's interim chief executive Nick Hockley told reporters on Saturday (August 8). "We are full steam ahead with the planning (for Boxing Day at the MCG) in the anticipation that we'll be back to some level of normalcy by that point in time."
Hockley, though, did say, "certainly we're looking at contingency planning across the entire summer. Not necessarily specific to certain matches, but our entire events."
Perth is due to host Australia's standalone Test match against Afghanistan in November, while Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney are currently announced venues for the India Test series, beginning December 3.
(Inputs from AFP)
