Any idea to move cricket from the SCG should be hit for six

I SEE Cricket NSW is going down the greed passage again threatening to move cricket from its home in Australia, the SCG, to the benign stadium at Homebush Bay.

Can you imagine the English taking cricket from Lord's to Wembley just to squeeze in a few more paying patrons?

Lord's is still the preferred venue for all three forms of the game, and rightly so. Taking cricket from the SCG would remove over 100 years of cricketing history in Australia. The SCG is a cricket ground in its shape and dimensions, unlike Homebush. Its hallowed turf and listed Members Stand adorn the spirits of past greats such as Bradman and Trumper. The uniqueness of the spinning SCG wicket would be replaced by a drop-in pitch.

Fans would have to be content lining up for a train after the day's play rather than enjoying a meal or drink with friends in the Moore Park precinct. Perhaps Dave Gilbert, chief executive of Cricket NSW, should take his family (and binoculars) out to ANZ Stadium in January and be made to sit for six hours on level six because this is what he is proposing cricketing fans do if he decides to take cricket from its home. Perhaps then, this idea will be hit for six?

Patrick Brennan, Paddington

So Cricket NSW and its CEO David Gilbert have begun their ugly and tiresome grab for cash with threats to shift international cricket to Homebush (''Ashes may be played at Homebush Bay'', Herald, November 12). Are they really serious? They just need to look at the Herald's online poll, which revealed that a landslide 81 per cent of Sydneysiders want international cricket to remain at the SCG. The players, as indicated by Simon Katich's comments, want to continue playing international cricket at the SCG. If CNSW played international cricket at Homebush they would turn countless fans away from the game and do irreparable damage. It is short-term thinking. It is time CNSW immediately ceases this laborious game of brinkmanship and mindless debate. Should it continue, Gilbert together with his chairman, Harry Harinath, and board members such as former captain Mark Taylor, should resign.