The Adelaide Oval flew flags at half-mast with a moment of silence observed before the ‘Welcome to Country’ and the national anthems. These gestures were upheld before the 1st day’s play in the 3rd Ashes Test that began on Wednesday, 17 December.
Players from both Australia and England wore black armbands at the third Ashes Test match, where the venue this week was the Adelaide Oval. The event marked a commemoration of the victims of the Sunday, 14 December shooting at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
15 deaths were recorded, besides many others who sustained injuries, after a couple of gunmen opened fire on crowds gathered in Sydney’s eastern suburb to mark the first night of Hanukkah, a Jewish holiday.
The Australian folk singer, John Williamson, performed his song ‘True Blue’ as a tribute to the victims of the shooting.
Australian captain Pat Cummings, who resides at nearby Bronte Beach, shared that he was horrified to learn of the attacks only on Sunday night, December 14. Cummings went on to add that, like most other Aussies and people around the world, he too was horrified watching on TV. Cummings, commenting after training on Tuesday, 17 December, said that he had flicked on the news after putting his kids to bed when this horrific news was being aired. Cummings added that he and his wife were watching the news in disbelief. He added that witnessing such events puts things into a broader perspective. Many people’s hearts go out to everyone affected, as witnessing such a horrific incident is heartbreaking.
Cummings continued by mentioning that the location of the incident was just around the corner from his residence. Besides that, it was a place where he was used to taking his kids all the time. The incident had a profound impact on him. He was feeling for the Bondi community, which particularly included the Jewish community. Seeing the scenes shown over the past couple of days has been pretty powerful as well. The team was to wear armbands throughout the test and commemorate the victims, he added.
Ben Stokes shared that he had viewed the coverage of the attacks from England’s team room in their Adelaide hotel and commented that it was an incredibly sad day’ for Australia. ‘What transpired a few days back was an awful incident to watch unfold,’ said the English captain Stokes. He added that the team was seated in the team room when the news about the incident broke. There was silence from everyone in there observing the unfolding of the incident as it was happening. Stokes was quoted as adding that it’s incredibly sad for Australia, Sydney, and the world. It does put things into a lot of perspective when one sees things like that happen. And for everyone who was affected, our hearts went out to everyone, as it was a horrible thing to see happen.
Cricket Australia’s chief executive, Todd Greenberg, said that the third test would bring millions of people together to acknowledge and pay tribute to the victims of the attack and those affected by it.
Greenberg went on to state that this was a tragic time for all Australians, and the thoughts of everyone in the cricket world are with the victims of this terrible event, their families, friends, and the Jewish community. He added that whilst sports can seem insignificant at times like this, teams have the unusual opportunity to bring millions of people together to pay tribute, to console and to contemplate on the expectations of the nation to be.
