Aussies declare day-night Test a success

Adelaide - Cricket Australia has described this past weekend's day-night Test between Australia and South Africa as an "enormous success".

A total of 125 993 people attended the four days of the Test, 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.
 
TV ratings were 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. Ratings across the match demonstrated the huge appetite for day-night Test cricket, with viewership achieving an average well over one million for the vast majority of the match.
 
More than two million users also accessed Cricket Australia’s digital platforms over the course of the Test, with 11 million minutes live streamed across the four days.

Australian website cricket.com.au’s Facebook posts also resonated strongly, reaching 18 million people around the world.
 
Cricket Australia’s CEO, James Sutherland, 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.
 
“The scheduling of day-night Tests has been driven by a desire to make Test cricket more accessible, so it is wonderful to see the format resonate with so many of our fans.
 
“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.”
 
Australian fans will get another taste of day-night Test cricket this summer when Australia take on Pakistan in Brisbane from December 15.