Adelaide firms for Australia Day return

Australia Day cricket is set to return to the Adelaide Oval in 2016 in what is set to be a remarkable summer for the South Australia capital following the announcement the city will host the first day-night Test match.

Cricket Australia's Executive General Manager, Operations, Mike McKenna said today "no-one in Adelaide will be disappointed" when the limited-overs fixtures are confirmed by Cricket Australia, expected to be next week.

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Adelaide's cricket faithful cried foul last year when they lost the Australia Day fixture to Sydney, which hosted a Carlton Mid ODI Tri-Series match between Australia and India.

India, which also celebrates its national holiday on January 26, is visiting again for a limited-overs series of one-day and twenty20 matches with dates and times yet to be confirmed by CA.

"I think when the fixtures are announced the people in Adelaide will be pretty happy with what they hear," McKenna said today when quizzed if the Australia Day match was returning to Adelaide.

"I think no-one will be disappointed."

South Australian Cricket Association Chief Executive Keith Bradshaw said the state had been pushing hard for the Australia Day match to return to Adelaide.

"That's obviously a very important issue for us, Australia Day. It's part of our DNA, it's part of our tradition here," Bradshaw said.

"We're very, very keen and obviously want to host that game and we've made that very clear to Cricket Australia.

"I wouldn't describe it necessarily as a bidding process but there certainly have been some competitive tensions that have been raised and states that are looking to compete for content.

"My absolute strong view is that Australia Day should be here in South Australia.

"For me, it's not a financial decision. It's about looking after the people of South Australia, our public, the people that have supported us for many, many years."

McKenna said the Adelaide Oval was "the right ground, at the right time" for the historic day-night Test which he said was a trial that would be closely analysed before future day-night Tests were scheduled.

"The game of Test cricket is under pressure around the world, in many countries it's not as strong as here in Australia," McKenna said.

"Our consideration in trialling day-night Test cricket, at the encouragement of the ICC, is to make sure the game stays strong all around the world.

"We'll talk to players extensively afterwards, as we will the fans and the broadcaster, and see how the trial has gone before we move forward to another game.

"We'll spend plenty of time talking to all stakeholders involved. We'll look at it and see what we can learn from the first trial before we move on.

"We'll share that information with other countries around the world interested in trialling this form of Test cricket."

McKenna said Adelaide's weather conditions in late November and natural order as the third in the three-Test series against New Zealand gave it the edge over other day-night Test bidders Hobart and Brisbane.

"We know it's a superb ground, we now the fans turn out in big numbers for Test match cricket, and it's also climatically ideal.

"And it's the third match of series, and that gives the New Zealand team and the Australian players time to get into the series before they play the first pink ball Test match."