Daily Times

If ever there was an advertisement to keep the New Year’s Test in Sydney it came in the sea of pink that washed over the SCG on day three against Pakistan.

Some 32,061 fans were in the stadium by lunch on Jane McGrath Day, the centrepiece of the McGrath Foundation’s Pink Test, which is now in its 16th year.

The final attendance figure on day three – 37,129 – was the largest for any SCG Test crowd since the 2017/18 Ashes series.

Most of the crowd wore pink and all were encouraged by legendary fast bowler Glenn McGrath to donate as the foundation looks to provide more in-home nurses for breast cancer patients.

More attended the first session than turned out to see the retiring David Warner resume at the crease on day two, such is the pride of place the Pink Test holds for the Sydney sporting public.

Questions over the Harbour City’s right to host the New Year’s Test have become just as regular a fixture on Australia’s sporting calendar. Inclement weather is often chief among detractors’ concerns – with rain interrupting seven of the last eight New Year’s Tests in Sydney. Adelaide’s push for a marquee Test makes a more legitimate case.

The city has emerged as the biggest loser across the last two summers, after hosting a hapless West Indies outfit as part of a two-match series that began the 2022/23 Test calendar.

Perth, the other city to welcome West Indies last summer, earned an upgraded fixture this year – the first of three matches in the current series with Pakistan in a mid-December timeslot.

But South Australia’s capital was relegated to a January fixture against the Windies, after being denied the chance to host a day-night Test against Pakistan in December.