Darwin delight at cricket influx

While members of the Australia A squad will spend the next two weeks staking their claim ahead of the ICC Cricket World Cup next year, NT Cricket and the city of Darwin will be out to prove they are again ready to host international matches on a regular basis.

The Northern Territory capital will host the one-day quad series component of the Australia A tour over the next two weeks, with Marrara Oval, Northline Oval and Gardens Oval to play host to Australia A, India A, South Africa A and CA’s National Performance Squad in a quadrangular series.

It is 11 years to the day since Australia first played a Test match in Darwin where centuries to Darren Lehmann and Steve Waugh inspired an innings and 132-run win against Bangladesh, while the most recent ODI in the city was against the same opposition in 2008.

Local fans and the territory's government are ready to welcome back cricket at the highest level and believe it could make a successful return to the Top End.

“I’d love to see more international cricket,” said NT Deputy Chief Minister David Tollner, a self-confessed ‘cricket tragic’.

“The more we can do to get teams up here the better.

“The last budget we allocated a lot of money for the upgrade of Northline Oval and that was in preparation for these two weeks.

“We’re doing our little bit to try and encourage Cricket Australia up here a bit more and try to get more international cricket to the territory.

“We’ve had some good cricketers up here over the years and there’s nothing to say we can’t have more in the future.”

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Earlier this month, draft details of the Future Tours Program (FTP) emerged, including the possibility of a Test series between Australia and Bangladesh in northern Australia in 2017.

“I don’t think there’s too many places that you can play cricket in August,” NT Cricket president Bruce Walker told NT News last week.

“We’ve been talking to Cricket Australia about the need for more (cricket) product in the north.

“I don’t think anybody has made a decision on where these games are going to be played just yet — they’ve just organised the tours.

“We’ve proven what we can do in the north. The biggest driver of future activity in Australia is if people turn out.”

Australia A allrounder Moises Henriques is excited about making his return to the Top End and the prospect of playing on some high quality pitches.

“I’ve played up here a lot of times actually,” he told media after Friday’s training session.

“I think this is my fifth or sixth time to Darwin now and I’ve always enjoyed it up here.

“The boys said they were just out training on that deck out there (and believe) it’s one of the best decks they’ve played on in quite some time. And that’s just on a training wicket.

“We’re looking forward to playing on some good decks and scoring some runs.”

Although, the 27-year-old was quick to dismiss any emphasis on individual performance during the one-day series, despite cricket’s biggest event being just around the corner.

“The individuals within this time are just trying to make sure we win games of cricket for Australia A,” Henriques said.

“If we’re performing as a team, the individuals within the team will succeed as well.”

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