The 2026 Pink Test provided a memorable finale to the Men\u2019s Ashes series, with the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground playing host to a celebration of cricket and community to welcome the new year.<\/p>\n
In front of a record crowd of 211,032 \u2013 the highest ever for a SCG Test \u2013 Australia secured a five-wicket victory to round out a 4-1 Ashes success over England.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The match provided five days of captivating cricket, highlighted by centuries from Travis Head, Steve Smith, Joe Root and Jacob Bethell\u00a0and a fitting farewell to the retiring Usman Khawaja.\u00a0But the event will also be remembered for its\u00a0recognition of local heroes, volunteers and participants,\u00a0alongside fundraising generosity for the McGrath Foundation,\u00a0demonstrating\u00a0cricket\u2019s ability to unite the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Before play began on day one, the crowd united in a moving display of respect for the heroes of the Bondi attack,\u00a0with representatives of the\u00a0emergency services\u00a0and\u00a0first responders, plus\u00a0Ahmed Al Ahmed and Chaya Dadon, were applauded on the field of play.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Across the five days,\u00a0Cricket NSW proudly celebrated 1136 volunteers and participants\u00a0representing\u00a0a wide range of clubs,\u00a0regions\u00a0and roles within the game.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Most notably, NSW Community Cricket Awards and Community Distinguished Service Award recipients were acknowledged on two occasions.\u00a0Fifteen\u00a0of these recipients took part in the pre-game ceremony, carrying giant Australian and English flags, while\u00a0others\u00a0were\u00a0recognised via a special ceremony in the Steve Waugh Room on\u00a0Day\u00a0Four.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cricket NSW congratulates and thanks all award winners\u00a0and recipients\u00a0on\u00a0their outstanding service to the game.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Young cricketers also received memorable on-ground experiences throughout the match. Woolworths Cricket Blast Anthem participants from Orange CYMS Cricket Club stood alongside both\u00a0teams\u00a0pre-game, while\u00a0a number of\u00a0junior cricket participants per day acted as flag bearers.\u00a0The excitement continued at lunch on the first three days,\u00a0as\u00a0over 280 children from country and metro clubs\u00a0participated\u00a0in the Woolworths Cricket Blast matches on field.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The on-ground fun continued into day four, as the first Sydney Test Smash Series activation saw 39 participants enjoy the fast-paced format during the lunch break, while 60 volunteers and umpires\u00a0representing\u00a0groups from across NSW were applauded by the crowd on their Volunteer Walk.\u00a0\u00a0A further 650\u00a0cricket\u00a0volunteers\u00a0from across NSW\u00a0received tickets for one of the days of the match as a thank you for their work in the cricket community each week.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The recognition throughout the Test extended to two greats of the game \u2013 as announced on Day Two, Alex Blackwell and Michael Clarke AO were inducted into the Cricket NSW\u00a0Hall of Fame. Both were among the outstanding batters of their generation, as well as inspirational on and off-field leaders.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The community spirit on show across the week was further\u00a0demonstrated\u00a0with a record $11.7 million raised for the McGrath Foundation in what was the 18th\u00a0Pink Test.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A final farewell was also paid to The\u00a0Richies, the famous supporter group who for 15 years banded together to pay tribute to the great Richie Benaud, on their final appearance at the Sydney Test.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Cricket NSW thanks all from across the state, plus interstate and international visitors, whose contributions and attendance made the Pink Test memorable. We also congratulate Cricket Australia, alongside all State Associations and venues that hosted Test matches, on a successful series.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The 2026 Pink Test provided a memorable finale to the Men\u2019s Ashes series, with the iconic Sydney Cricket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378550,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,1602,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-378549","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-text","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378549","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=378549"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378549\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378549"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378549"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378549"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}