Adelaide: Anyone fearing last weekend's AC/DC concert on Adelaide Oval would hinder conditions for this week's inaugural day-night Test have been assured the clean-up from it has proved that rock and roll ain't turf pollution.
Feverish work by the groundsmen, which included returning the drop-in pitch to the middle of the arena, has ensured the venue is back in business for Friday's match.
Given the importance of the match - it will be the first time a pink ball has been used in a Test - there would have been a furore had the South Australian Cricket Association been caught with their pants down if the ground had not recovered in time. Even though that would have seen them spoiling for a fight with Cricket Australia, given the importance of the match there was no chance SACA would give it up.
While there has been some consternation about why the venue hosted a rock concert, complete with a massive high-voltage stage on the turf, so close to a marquee match the stadium operators were not breaking the rules by doing so. A key motivation for them was obvious: money talks.
SACA chief executive Keith Bradshaw was unafraid to be a ball-breaker when it came to planning the transition from concert mode to cricket mode. He had made clear that come hell or high water they would play ball at Adelaide Oval as planned from Friday.
Bradshaw kept a stiff upper lip during the clean-up, which required a mass replacement of turf at one end. Fortunately his plan has come to fruition, with all the turf works done in the nick of time for teams to begin training at the venue from Tuesday afternoon.
"We're absolutely thrilled with the condition of the oval . . . Damian Hough, our groundsman, is an absolute genius. He and his staff have worked tirelessly to get the ground into pristine condition, ready for the Test on Friday," Bradshaw said.
The condition of the ground was, superficially at least, so good that come the end of the Test the SACA boss will likely be saying "Have a drink on me" to his head curator, Hough. The only threat to that will be if the pitch is hard as a rock, to the extent the match ambles into a draw.
Given Hough's track record, however, it's unlikely the pitch will be too one-sided. And given the trait of the pink ball to swing under lights it could even be baptism by fire for whichever batsmen are the first to face the new ball under lights.
If, however, they can stick around until stumps they would at least have the chance to make the most of the daylight conditions the next day and, if really successful, leave the bowlers thunderstruck.
"I think here, the grass cover that we have and the conditions that we have are absolutely ideal for any type of cricket . . . and as we saw in the [day-night] Sheffield Shield match the ball held up as a red ball would have done, and the response from the captains was nothing but positive," Bradshaw said.
