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Sydney crowds throng to T20

02/02/2012 04:47:04 AM

Before the first international cricket match held at Sydney Olympic Stadium, a press release did the rounds peeling off the significant moments played out on the arena before us.

We had the Cathy Freeman gold medal run, John Aloisi's World Cup qualifying penalty and Johnny Wilkinson's drop goal in the 2003 Rugby World Cup final alongside epic Bledisloe Cup and State of Origin encounters.

They can now add the night international cricket introduced itself to Sydney's west - and immediately bullied its way past 84 years of history and into the record books.

The crowd of 59,659 was the biggest to attend a day's cricket in NSW, eclipsing the previous record of 58,446 set at the SCG during an Australia-England Ashes Test in 1928.

Stadium officials have made no secret they want a greater cut of the cricket pie, aggressively taking on the MCG in a bid to nick the 2015 World Cup final.

If MCG bosses weren't taking the Sydney Olympic Stadium threat seriously before the game, they are now.

The SCG will always be the home of cricket in Sydney and the grand old lady will look even better when the Bradman/Noble Stands are given a facelift over the next 18 months.

But capacity still won't touch 60,000.

For sheer numbers, Olympic headquarters offers cricket officials the chance to attract an extra 20,000 fans.

As auditions go, Wednesday night was beyond impressive.

Despite rain before and during the game, the punters turned up in huge numbers.

They created a football-like atmosphere at a place that has been described as having as much life as a Britney Spears concert.

The fans were rewarded with a reasonable game of cricket that featured the usual T20 explosives.

The only person who wouldn't have enjoyed watch it all unfold was Brad Haddin.

The 34-year-old wasn't joking pre-game when he said the decision to 'rest' him for Matthew Wade for the start of the one-day series left him decidedly uncomfortable about his future.

Haddin comes from the 'never give a sucker an even break' school.

It normally requires an oyster knife to prise the gloves from him.

There's no doubt he would have been squirming on the couch as Wade battered 72 from 43 balls to set up victory.

Kerry O'Keeffe joked on ABC Radio: "We used to have a wicket-keeper...what was his name? Bruce Haddin? He was a good player, Bruce."

It's a fair bet Haddin didn't see the funny side of it.

The Australians were laughing, however, all the way to an emphatic win, continuing India's miserable tour.

The result will be soon forgotten but the significance of this occasion will linger long.

 
Photograph Copyright : Getty Images
Comments
Posted by Murray at
02/02/2012 08:46 AM
Say what now? Some bored Sydney theatre-goers turn up for one match and suddenly it's the home of cricket? Maybe the people who run the Olympic Stadium need to limit their ambitions until they have a track record a little better than pulling off the odd one-off "special event". Typical of Sydney, though. I thought I heard something sizzling, so I assumed it was steak. More like cheap snags.
Posted by Dave at
02/02/2012 01:09 PM
I heard the 774 commentators saying the ground shouldn't even be considered for the world cup due to the short straight boundaries. It's not even a cricket stadium, let alone a possible World Cup final venue.

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