Cricket Australia claim poor crowds are beneficial
By Daniel Brettig, 23 Nov 2010 Daniel Brettig is a Roar Guru
- Tagged:
- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Cricket Australia
If abysmal early season crowds reflect a tactical failure for Cricket Australia, the game’s administrators are still claiming a strategic victory.
As the summer builds momentum ahead of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba from Thursday, CA’s marketeers are satisfied the game is on everyone’s lips, albeit for mixed reasons.
While the Ashes themselves have an allure beyond the reach of even the savviest advertising campaign, the combination of extra early matches and a raft of uncertainty about the shape and fortunes of the Australian team has helped to raise interest.
This is despite horrid attendances for the limited overs matches against Sri Lanka – 19,309 at the MCG, 11,495 at the SCG and 9037 at the Gabba – and a measly 5845 trekking to the Gabba for Sunday night’s Twenty20 exhibition match.
“There’s no doubt the attendances for Sri Lanka were disappointing and the attendance last night was disappointing also,” said CA spokesman Peter Young.
“(But) if you do the taxi driver test, everyone in Australia is talking about cricket, and in terms of media coverage last week cricket was second only to the royal engagement of Kate and William.”
Sri Lanka’s early arrival was made necessary by next year’s 50-over World Cup arriving so close to the end of the Ashes series, preventing the Australian international program from going beyond January.
“The biggest reason for playing against Sri Lanka at the time that we did was that it was the only time we could play it with the World Cup following so quickly,” said Young.
“But the attendances were disappointing and there’s nothing more we can say about it.”
Next season’s program, featuring the financially pivotal visit of India and the rich television dividends they bring, will feature the return of the limited overs tri-series.
The international summer is likely to revert to tradition by beginning with a Test match, but there is doubt over the future of the T20 Allstars match, which has failed to capture the public imagination despite making use of cricket’s trendiest format.
“The biggest intention for the Allstar game was as an alert to say that football’s over, the cricket’s here,” said Young.
“We’d like to think there is some way we can still stage the Allstar game.
“We will review this summer before making the calls about next summer, keeping in mind that there will be a lot of public interest around the start of the Big Bash League.”
One man who may not be so keen to see it return is Australian back-up `keeper Tim Paine, victim of a broken finger sustained during the match.
“That’s a real shame,” Young said of Paine.
“But to be fair that can happen any time, it can happen in the nets, in a Shield game or in a Test match.”
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The Crowd Says (9) | Page 1 of Comments
Have Your Say
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- Australian Cricket, Cricket, Cricket Australia
November 23rd 2010 @ 5:02am
Brett McKay said | November 23rd 2010 @ 5:02am | Report comment
we’ve all been saying it on The Roar for ages now, you can’t just put a T20 game on and get a crowd. Context and purpose are still required. The All Stars game fails both..
November 23rd 2010 @ 6:01am
Alec Swann said | November 23rd 2010 @ 6:01am | Report comment
Administrators the world over must dine at the same table.
Overload the menu and wonder why the public feel sick.
The ECB increase the number of T20 games by 60 per cent and wonder why the crowds are down.
It’s called overkill and whatever country they operate in, they just can’t help themsleves.
November 23rd 2010 @ 6:52am
Brett McKay said | November 23rd 2010 @ 6:52am | Report comment
Alec, it’d be some kind of special irony if administrators killed off the T20 format before one-day cricket died of natural causes….
November 23rd 2010 @ 8:51am
Russ said | November 23rd 2010 @ 8:51am | Report comment
Alec, I’m not convinced overkill was the problem. They weren’t playing that many games, no more than any other sporting domestic competition does. Where they failed, was a) they scheduled it against international cricket, and any domestic competition will fail if internationals suck the media oxygen out of them, and leave them bereft of star players.
And b) they scheduled it so haphazardly it was practically impossible to work out when a team was playing, or the league table scenario they faced. Domestic leagues should be scheduled as a round on weekends, with occasional mid-week rounds. TV stations can schedule preview and highlights shows on Monday/Thursday if they want some cricket filler – in fact they should, because the offer the easiest way for fans to remain abreast of a competition with minimal investment.
The Big Bash is the same daft tournament format: 18 games in 38 days when they could easily have fit the 6 rounds into 3-4 weeks (and played the pointless ODI filler against England in a couple of international breaks). Each “round” is completely different from the one that precedes it: 1:ThSuTu, 2:FrSaSu, 3:TuThSa 4:TuWeTh, 5:SaMoTu, 6:ThFrSa. How, as a fan, can I work out when I can go to a game when they can’t even schedule them consistently? It’s madness, if a football code proposed something like that you’d stop going in protest. The English T20 was worse again (at some points teams had played 2 or 3 games more than others), and suffered even more from the problem.
November 23rd 2010 @ 8:21am
GC Bulletin said | November 23rd 2010 @ 8:21am | Report comment
Can’t believe more hasn’t been written about the Allstars game. Poor crowd aside the whole thing reeked of amateur hour and none of the players appearred to give a fat rats about the game, Pollard looked like he was about to fall asleep at any second and Hayden was cracking lame jokes.
Whilst watching the game I was reminded of the 50 over invitational/all stars type matchs of yeteryear. The one where Zoe Goss bowled out Brian Lara, and the one where fatty Vautin took THAT catch…how much better were they??
Thing is CA has to decide whether they want these Allstars games to be;
A) Serious games e.g. The Australian team vs world allstars etc or
B) Muck around games with celebrities and ex players like Warney and Botham
Not a half arsed cobbled together version of both that doesn’t entertain on a sporting or comedy level.
Allstars games can work as the NRL have proved, but they need more than a bunch of fringe Australian players and two fluro uniforms to make it work.
Start the Ashes please.
November 23rd 2010 @ 10:28am
Bayman said | November 23rd 2010 @ 10:28am | Report comment
But, apparently, CA had to schedule the Sri Lanka series then because the WC is on so soon after the Ashes. The real question is, “Why did they have to schedule it at all?”
Did anyone notice Sri Lanka was in town, does anyone realise they’ve gone? Does anyone care?
CA clearly has nobody who still remembers the old story of the Goose and the Golden Egg. It never ceases to amaze me that dumb punters like us can understand but the CA professionals, who are paid to understand, have no clue.
I’m not expecting miracles from CA anytime soon!
November 23rd 2010 @ 1:54pm
Bob said | November 23rd 2010 @ 1:54pm | Report comment
The sooner 50 over cricket dies the better. Then we can concentrate on real cricket (tests) that mean something and the carnival T20 stuff. Even India are fielding a second string 50 over team in the upcoming series with NZ so they can concentrate on the test series in South Africa. How many 50 over games can be recalled memorably by Australians in the past 12 months. CA note- its boring.
Watch how little interest the world cup generates compared to the ashes.
November 23rd 2010 @ 7:00pm
plugger said | November 23rd 2010 @ 7:00pm | Report comment
Here’s the solution. Play girls. That’s where they’re headed. The standard may not rise but the crowds will flock in.
December 2nd 2010 @ 12:30am
Akram said | December 2nd 2010 @ 12:30am | Report comment
Once Netherlands, Ireland and Afghanistan flock into mainstream cricket, cricket will become more competitive, watch out CA