SYDNEY – England, at 488 for seven at the stumps on the third day, were not the only ones in the pink as the fifth and final Ashes Test celebrated “Jane McGrath Day” at
the Sydney Cricket Ground Wednesday.
The famous cricket arena was transformed into a sea of pink for the third year in support of funding for breast-cancer research and in memory of the late Jane McGrath, wife of Australian fast bowling great Glenn McGrath.
The vast majority of the 40,000 spectators at the SCG got behind the cause, wearing pink shirts, skirts, bandanas, wigs and pink zinc facial cream. The stumps were pink, so was the scoreboard and so were the sponsor signs. The Australian players wore pink shoelaces, and Andrew Strauss’s English team all signed pink caps to be auctioned for the charity.
The McGrath Foundation charity has raised over one million dollars (one million US) from similar days at the SCG over the past three years.
In that time its number of breast-care nurses in the Australian community have risen from four to 61, boosted by a federal government grant.
