Rain, hail or shine, the New Year's Test appears destined to remain in Sydney despite an audacious bid from the city of Adelaide to alter Australia's home cricketing calendar.
With intermittent breaks and whole days lost to inclement weather becoming a fixture during recent years, fans have been left frustrated by the lack of play in the Harbour City, the latest bout of ire coming in January when Australia were forced into a draw with South Africa as the covers came on and off at the rate of knots.
However, as stated by recently departed NSW venues boss Tony Shepherd, while he may be gone from his post, the Sydney Cricket Ground looks safe to retain the final Test of Australia's home schedule.
Though powerbrokers from the city of churches have had their eye on disrupting the schedule and bringing the final fixture to the Adelaide Oval, Shepherd was steadfast that the status quo would remain.
“It will never happen. NSW is absolutely vital to Australian cricket,” Shepherd told The Daily Telegraph.
“NSW is too important to the game in terms of the number of players produced for Test level and the size of the market.
“The Sydney New Year's Test match is more than a Test. It's an iconic event which serves as an inspiration for young people and juniors to play the game.
“The New Year's Test helps to maintain and grow the great game. Quite simply, NSW is too important to the game.”
At present, Cricket Australia is yet to set its 2022/23 schedule in stone, however, conservatism looks set to win out over change.
Though the South Australian capital had been eyeing Sydney's crown jewel for their own, the former faces another fixturing battle. One that goes beyond the bounds of the boundary rope.
Next summer, Australia is set to tackle both Pakistan and the West Indies across five Tests taking place between December and February.
The scheduling shunt owes to the fact that Andrew McDonald's side will play an Ashes series, take part in several white-ball tours, a potential World Test Championship Final and the 2023 World Cup between June and November.
While the three-Test Pakistan series will be run and won in Perth, Melbourne and Sydney by early January, the second Test against the West Indies is scheduled to take place across the contentious Australia Day public holiday.
Either Brisbane or Adelaide will play host to this second Test against a returning Carribbean XI.
Previously, Adelaide had fought hard to hold past Australia Day fixtures, with white-ball contests taking place under lights at the Adelaide Oval. Yet, following a change in public perception to the date, it remains to be seen whether South Australian powerbrokers will muster the same effort to host a pink ball Test on the same date.
Cricket Australia has not stipulated a date by which its next schedule will be released.
