Australia vs West Indies: Ricky Ponting believes day-night Test can reinvigorate Hobart

Johannesburg: Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes that the roaring success of the day-night Test match in Adelaide could be seen as an example to secure embattled Hobart's status as a Test venue.

The Bellerive Oval stadium in Hobart, which has hosted 11 Tests since 1989, came under heavy criticism after learning that mere 10,000 fans will attend the first four days of the first match against West Indies starting on Thursday.

Ponting said that Hobart might need day-night Tests if the attendance would continue to slide over the next few days down there, Sport24 reported.

Describing the criticism against his old homeground as 'unfair', Ponting said that it was really hard to make assumptions on Tasmanian cricket or people watching Test cricket in Australia when there was no continuity with the games being held there.

According to the 40-year-old, the Tasmanian public were being judged on Test matches against lower-ranked teams. He called for more matches to be hosted against England, South Africa and India in Hobart and said that critics could then start making judgments and comparisons about other venues around Australia.