Cricket Australia declares day-night Test against Proteas a success

Johannesburg [South Africa], Nov. 29 (ANI): The recently concluded day-night Test between Australia and South Africa, which the hosts went on to win by seven wickets, has been described as an "enormous success" by Cricket Australia. A total of 125 993 people attended the four days of the game, thus setting a new record for non-Ashes attendance at the Adelaide Oval and surpassing the 123 736 attendance set at last year's day-night Test between Australia and New Zealand, reports Sport24. The TV ratings for the inconsequential Test between the two sides was also strong, with an average of 1.827 million Australian viewers nationally tuning in for the final session of the match, peaking at 2.124 million. It is reported that more than two million users accessed the digital platform of Cricket Australia during the course of the game, with 11 million minutes live streamed across the four days. Overwhelmed with the response received for the day-night Test, James Sutherland, Cricket Australia's CEO, said the strong attendance, engagement figures and season's best TV ratings demonstrated the enthusiasm Australian fans have shown for the day-night Test format. "It was fantastic to see the great crowds at Adelaide Oval and the many other fans around the country, and internationally, tuning in across the day-night Test in Adelaide. It has surpassed the success of the first day-night fixture last year and further demonstrated the potential of the format to reinvigorate Test cricket both here and around the world," he said. Australian fans would get another opportunity to get taste of day-night Test cricket when the Steve Smith-led side takes on Pakistan in Brisbane from December 15. "I am sure that many of our Brisbane fans are now even more excited about the upcoming day-night Test against Pakistan at the Gabba next month and we will certainly explore the opportunity to host further day-night Tests in future seasons," Sutherland said. It should be noted that Australia won both their day-night Tests. (ANI)