However, in those two tests, their traction seemed to drop significantly, drawing crowds of 61,733 in the Pakistan test and 79,581 in the West Indies, while Australia’s most populous city drew 70,000 people per day. It averaged just over 14,000.
The page at that time was sydney morning herald explains why it is less crowded:
The ACB canceled the SCG test in early January because Pakistan had to travel out of the country for a tour of New Zealand that would follow in early December 1995.
The dates for the West Indies Test next summer were more tied to the South Australian Cricket Association’s desire to keep customary Test matches around the 26 January holiday.
In any event, the concept was deemed so unsuccessful that the ACB’s esteemed New South Wales representative and former president, Alan Crompton, was disrespectfully dumped by his state association in 1997. was one. 1998 and has remained ever since.
The numbers are even tougher in Melbourne, which hosts Tuesday’s final ODI between Australia and England.
The fact that in the more than 40 years since the end of the World Series cricket split that gave us a cursory overview of the commercial-driven international season, there have been only three ODIs held at the MCG in November has left much to be desired. that will be brought out. .
The average attendance for the three games in 1981, 2010 and 2014 was just 17,993. By December, this number will exceed 40,000. For January, it is approximately 50,000. Even in February, the games of the last 40 years drew about 40,000 people per game.
These figures quantify how long it takes for traditional Australian cricket spectators to warm up for the summer before being glued to their seats and TV screens from mid-December to January. It transcends change of any kind.
Live coverage to the gates began in 2006 after Cricket Australia had avoided for years. The Big Bash League emerged, bringing some competition with international competition in 2011. Also, the men’s whiteball game was streamed exclusively on pay-TV operator his Foxtel. 2018.
During the period of expansionism between 2010 and 2018, Cricket Australia considered a strategic initiative to expand the game’s footprint beyond the period of December and January. In terms of broadcast viewers, the move has not been successful. Over a million viewers on Nine, Foxtel and Kayo watched Australia’s World Cup final match against Afghanistan in Adelaide and his Fox/Kayo viewers for his SCG match on Saturday night were about 500,000 people. But the ground crowd is another matter.
Ashton Agger ‘saved five’ with ridiculous defensive line at Adelaide’s boundary ropes.credit:twitter
Spectators have never had more choices or matches. They certainly have Mitchell Stark’s sympathies: “100%, there’s a game every day,” he said after his SCG game. “I’m not the one sitting here making the schedules, but that’s the reality.
“We have completed a one-day series of 3 games from the T20 World Cup split into 5 tests. , the girls have the T20 World Cup in the IPL.There is a cricket match every day.
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“I think you can see both sides of it. How can we ask people to spend $400-500 on cricket days three days a week? It’s busy for players, staff and fans. It’s a schedule.”
The T20 World Cup bucked the general trend, with South Asian cricket supporters flocking in droves to watch India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka at a time when Australia usually doesn’t have big international matches. .
This precedent has left cricket Australia to ponder. While men’s team spectators remain exceptionally seasonal and habitual, Australia has yet another group of passionate cricketers willing to move away from previous norms if given the right incentives. There are two.
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