A lengthening afternoon, an Adelaide Test, and two South Australians batting together in the sunshine. Something felt very right about that, as Travis Head and Alex Carey took Australia towards a first-innings lead of 157 against India through much of the second session of day two. The old scoreboard ticking, the church steeple peering over the grandstand’s shoulder, the hill stuffed like a French goose, the people in a sell-out crowd robustly voicing approval as Head in particular kept whacking a pink missile in their direction.
In practical terms, state-based parochialism is irrelevant in modern Australia, a performative dance for politicians to half-heartedly perform around budget allocations or State of Origin. Even with cricket’s domestic structure still built along those borders, the consensus from outside South Australia admits that Adelaide Oval is the country’s best ground, and Adelaide’s Test the summer’s most enjoyable. The festival feel is unique, the city always turns out. Even among grumbling at being allocated the struggling West Indies the past two summers running, Adelaide cracked 50,000 people over the first two days both times. For the same team, Perth didn’t get that many in five.
