Thaindian News

Johannesburg, Nov 17 (IANS) The Wanderers Test here, the second of Australia’s current tour of South Africa starting Thursday, will have added colour as it turns pink in support of the McGrath Foundation and the Cancer Association of South Africa (CANSA).

As an acknowledgment of the success of the Sydney Pink Test, now into its fourth year, the third day of the Wanderers Test will see venue, players and fans demonstrate their support for the cause by bathing the match in pink.

During the Wanderers Test, the Australian team will again wear the McGrath Foundation logo on their playing shirts, sign and donate them to the McGrath Foundation, and the Wanderers Ground will be covered with pink signage, shave and spray stations and pink breakfasts.

The Sydney Test during the 2011-12 Vodafone Test Series against India in January will again turn pink to support the McGrath Foundation.

The partnership between Cricket Cares, Cricket Australia’s community action program, and the McGrath Foundation has raised more than $2.2 million since the inception of the Pink Test three years ago and has become one of Australia’s most iconic fundraising events. The late Jane McGarth and her husband, former cricketer Glenn McGarth, had set up the Foundation after she was diagnosed with cancer.

Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive James Sutherland said the Pink Test has helped set a precedent around the world.

“The Pink Test concept has grown phenomenally in Australia since 2008 and the Wanderers Test turning pink is recognition of what Cricket Australia and the McGrath Foundation have achieved with the event,” Sutherland said.

“It shows that, as well as the $2.2million the organisations have raised, the awareness for women’s health created through the Pink Test reaches worldwide. I know the guys will proudly wear the McGrath Foundation logo on their shirt during the Wanderers Test and again during the Sydney Test against India in January when the Sydney Cricket Ground will again be covered in pink,” he said.

McGrath Foundation ambassador and director Tracy Bevan is in South Africa as part of the Wanderers Test activities and is looking forward to seeing fans embrace the pink movement.

“To think we are about to head into our fourth year of the Sydney Pink Test is just incredible and it’s been so amazing to see how the Pink Test concept has really been embraced by everyone in the cricketing community,” Bevan said.