Adelaide comes across as a genteel city, but for a long time there was a contrasting degree of brutality to the Adelaide Test. At peak summer late in January it was a saucepan: hot, flat, home to impossibly long days. The mood changed in recent decades when it shifted to milder weeks in late spring, then further to nighttime contests. But with the third Test being a day match, and with forecasts this week as high as 39C, there’s anticipation of the old flavour returning. And if England’s 2-0 deficit becomes an Ashes-losing 3-0, we will see awaken in the Australian sporting public a concomitant lust for total destruction.
There is talk around this series of audiences craving competitiveness. Maybe true, at least abstractly during interminable months of lead-up. But let’s be real: when the Kookaburra starts flying, much of Australia has a far more potent interest in entirely the opposite direction. Something innate comes to life. The distinctive tang of a whitewash in the offing makes skin tingle, forearm hairs salute, and postures correct themselves. Five-nil is not just a Glenn McGrath punchline but a zealot’s grail. You can tell because we’re already canvassing it after two Tests. England conceding the series this week would tank interest in the UK but inspire it at home: you may well find Australians more excited about Boxing Day providing the chance for their team to go up 4-0 than for the visitors to level it 2-2 and set up a classic.
