Adelaide, 7 December (IANS). The lights went off twice at the start of the first day of the pink-ball Test between Australia and India at the Adelaide Oval, disrupting the game. Cricket Australia issued a statement saying that the problem was caused by a “switching” error.
New LED lights were installed in the stadium in late 2023 at a cost of over $5 million. But these lights went off not once, but twice, leaving the 50,186 spectators, players and commentators present on the field shocked.
According to reports, this was not a technical fault but a human error. Cricket Australia has said that there was an error with the internal switching which was immediately identified and rectified.
It turns out that it was human error. According to reports, the Australian team had asked for the net lights to be switched on for the evening practice sessions. Because the Australian team was facing the Indian bowling attack, the ground staff accidentally switched off the four main light towers of the stadium.
For the first time this problem came in the 18th over of Australia’s innings, due to which the game stopped for 25 seconds. But as soon as the game started again, the same mistake happened again and this time the game was halted for 86 seconds.
Both players and commentators were angry and shocked by this incident. Indian captain Rohit Sharma, bowler Harshit Rana and Australian batsmen Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne were seen waiting on the field.
The problem occurred from the ground control room located above the Western Stand. There, in an attempt to switch on the net lights from the computer, the main lights of the stadium were switched off. “The main lights were switched off by mistake while turning on the net lights. Perhaps the setting went wrong or the system tripped,” a source said.
There was an interesting conversation in the commentary box after the incident. Former Australian cricketer Mark Waugh said, “Power went out in Adelaide. Maybe because of the heat, more ACs are running.”
Indian commentator Harsha Bhogle added, “Maybe someone has fallen asleep. This is the first time I have seen play stopped due to the lights going off in a Test match.”
Mark Waugh immediately responded, “Never seen anything like this in Australia.”
Australian fast bowler Mitchell Starc described it as an “unusual incident”. “It was a little strange to have the lights go out twice so quickly,” he said.
–IANS
AS/
