- Spectators and players were plunged into darkness
- Lights went out twice in a short period of time
- Adelaide Oval officials have revealed the reason why
Adelaide Oval management has revealed what caused the lights to go out during the evening session of the Test match between Australia and India on Friday night, but the answer might not be what you think.
Play was briefly stopped twice in a matter of minutes during the final session on Friday night after all of the ground’s lights towers turned off.
Only the smaller lights in the grandstands remained on, with thousands of spectators switching the torches on their phones. A host of cricket fans took to social media to blame the issue on renewable energy.
‘Maybe they shouldn’t have day night tests in states that rely on renewable energy,’ one posted.
‘LOL probably our super reliable green energy at work,’ added another.
‘Welcome to loadshedding Australia,’ said yet another.
The Adelaide Oval floodlights went out twice during the second Test between Australia and India
Bemused players had to wait briefly for the lights to be turned back on so play could resume
Adelaide had previously experienced ongoing issues with blackouts and brownouts due to power shortages until a massive Tesla battery was installed in 2017.
The Hornsdale Power Reserve includes what was the largest lithium-ion battery in the world at the time.
However even the commentators joked that Adelaide had simply run out of electricity to power the massive floodlights at the stadium.
‘They’ve run out of electricity in Adelaide; it was pretty hot today,’ former Test great Mark Waugh said.
‘I don’t know if those around South Australia need to turn the air conditioners off, or stop running the kettle – but hopefully we’re okay from here on in,’ Mark Howard joked.
‘Someone hasn’t paid their bills here,’ David Warner added.
However Adelaide Oval management have blamed an ‘internal switching issue’ on the lights dramatically going out during the second Test.
It was a reluctant statement from venue management when explaining the situation during the day-night Test: ‘We had a brief internal switching issue that was quickly identified and rectified.’
The outages didn’t stop Aussie duo Marnus Labuschagne and Nathan McSweeney from taking control of the match
South Australian minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Energy and Mining Tom Koutsantonis also confirmed there was no power supply issue.
‘I can confirm there was no lack of power supply or availability in South Australia,’ he posted to X.
‘Whatever caused the light towers at Adelaide Oval to turn off was not related to a lack of power supply from the Grid.’
Australian pair Nathan McSweeney and Marnus Labuschagne were able to regain their composure during the delays, making it to stumps unbeaten.
Last year, Adelaide Oval management spruiked a $5 million LED upgrade to the ground’s lighting system.
It was hailed as ‘the only major stadium in Australia with tower lights equipped with both immaculate white sports lighting and full colour ‘light show’ capabilities’.
The upgrade meant that the lights were able to be restored instantly, while the old metal halide lights can take anywhere from 1–15 minutes to reach 90 per cent of their full brightness.
‘LED allows for two things – instant switch on and off of a focused, consistent lighting level across the field of play, as well as new capabilities including colour, flash and animation,’ the statement in December 2023 read.
