Stop bagging Tassie: cricket boss

Geez Bayman, it is a worry if the crowd is bumped up by interstate attendees. This makes the local effort look all the more pathetic. I've heard that sitting right on top of the action at a smaller ground rather than being shoved somewhere up in a grandstand at the G does have its advantages. Maybe I should help Cricket Tasmania by encouraging some of the extended family to get along - Uncle Elmer, cousin Randy, and the rest.

In Adelaide Ed Cowan was asked by a very young boy to sign a mini bat. "What's your name?" asked Test player Ed. "Edward" said the young boy. "Edward, that's my name" said the Test player, followed after some banter, "Remember, two Eds are better than one". Perhaps the Tassie authorities could follow the David Hookes argument and count heads instead of bodies for the crowd numbers. Hookes famously suggested that Tasmanians had two heads - I'm sure it was a compliment - so perhaps the crowd numbers are not as bad as the mainland might suggest. I have friends who always travel to Hobart for the Test - and love it. Next year, I might join them.

Maybe they need the press to get in there and highlight the problems with drinking and anti-social yob culture. Stop reporting on the game and just highlight the bad aspects in an attempt to put a stop to it, kind of like they do with the soccer.

More excuses from Cricket Tasmania, aided and abetted by a typically unquestioning Tasmanian press. I'm somewhat bemused and peeved to see the two are at it yet again:- Blaming poor crowds on scheduling close to Christmas -- hang on a minute, the scheduling excuse was whipped out about 5 years ago when tests were held in early November at the same time as V8 Supercars at Symmons Plains in the north. CT and the press complained back then about scheduling when 60k turned out over 3 days to the V8s, and something less than 5k per day to the test match. In the meantime, and with nobody to point out the smoking gun, the blame game has gone viral. One reason named is 'high' ticket prices, though this is a matter of opinion, especially if a national team is appearing. The weather copped a serve, but really has been typically inconsistent Hobart weather that really has been no worse than Brisbane's. Tough economic times got a mention, despite Hobartians faring much better comparatively speaking than regional Tasmanians. Also blamed were northern Tasmanians for not travelling, though they have no problem doing this for football. Even the quality of opposition copped it, with NZ, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and the Windies being blamed - we will conveniently forget these teams were playing a national side in a sport that sees itself as supposedly 'top dog' amongst Australian sports. Perhaps CT and the press are in denial? Here is a suggestion. Perhaps CT and the Tasmanian press need to seriously question whether or not there is genuine interest in, and market support for test cricket in Tasmania. BBL tickets certainly have no problem being snapped up. ODIs are usually sell-outs. North Melbourne FC (hardly the most popular AFL club) is able to pull a decent crowd and community support down here. And in this AFL fortress, the Melbourne Storm surprised on the upside by pulling in a very good crowd of about 12k to a practice match against the Broncos in February. Perhaps Hobart and Launceston are at the core of their hearts, football towns (it is such a pity the denizens can't unite on this shared allegiance either!) A positive is that Tasmania, on a per capita basis, produces good crowd averages for test cricket. A seeming unquantifiable is that nobody is saying if all those skool kiddies let in for free on Friday were counted in the official crowd figures. As with most things in this state, everybody ends up blaming somebody else. Northerners and southerners are already peppering one another with verbal shot on forums. And the CT chairman is spraying honest critics such as Jim Maxwell with comments such as "What I'd say to the commentators that do that - if you don't like Tasmania don't come here" ("The Examiner", 17/12/12) Y'all go home now, n leave us tree-lovers ya hear?

I don't really go to test matches anymore, it's just so expensive and in Brisbane at least to regulated, no umbrellas?. The ground is poorly run, drunks sitting near kids ect. Surely when the grounds not sold out its easy to segregate family's and those 'on the drink' and I don't mean putting up a rope between them. Try different sides of the stadium.

The ODI is sold out Brian..

My most funniest moments at any major sporting contest occur when the crowd is sparse. You do not get any theatre goers, just dyed in the wools.

This is a main reason I rarely attend live Domestic or International Cricket in general anymore. The looseness of security seems to be the case at most grounds around Australia. I mostly watch all the series on TV (including other series from around the world on Fox). I can avoid the obnoxious drunken tossers, and for a live cricket fix can just wander down to a local ground and watch some club cricket.

Canberra would need any test to be in November or February before/after the public service goes on holidays. The ODI crowd later this season will be interesting. CA claim that test cricket is their priority so where does it fit in that BBL tickets are cheaper than those for Test cricket? Seems to me that Test cricket is funding the BBL should it not be the other way around Finally, Hussey is a very good No 6 although having Watson in the side has clearly proved useful with another fast bowler going down.

Sunday was at least Family Day, where you get 1 child in free per adult. So there were a few more there yesterday on account of that I'd say. Today they've also opened up GA tickets to the stand next to the hill, so those seat tickets have essentially got cheaper. That would have been nice over the weekend for us on the hill scurrying out of the rain while the stand sat mostly empty. That's still something like $38 though, which is nowhere near cheap.

Why don't they just make it $5 or $10 for a ticket - at least on say the Sunday? What you lose on gate receipts you will make on food and beer sales. Plus a stack more people in the ground makes it all look a lot less embarrassing.

In fact there was one yob early on Sunday morning who decided it would be fun to sledge the Aussies for some stupid reason. He had a go at Clarke when he came to field from 2nd slip and Clarke gave him a mouthful back. When he tried it again, Clarke turned around from 2nd slip, called out "Shut up ya goose" and then proceeded to take the piss out the bloke's beer gut and drinking habits. Which was quite brilliant. So maybe the low numbers weren't so bad. You certainly can't have a conversation with the Australian cricket captain over the fence at the MCG.

There;'s no doubt that Bellerive games rely a lot on people travelling from the north. With wet weather predicted, people will not make the trip. From Launceston its 2.5 hours each way to Bellerive on match day (with the traffic on match days and the fact there is no parking near the ground), from the north-west add an extra hour to two depending on where along the coast. That's a long day for the chance to watch it rain - especially for the psyche of Tasmanians, who rarely have to drive more than 20 minutes. A 2 hour trip is pychologically similar to a 4 or 5 hour one for mainlanders. Test crowds were fine before Australia first plted a one day game there, as soon as that happened Test crowds died. It may be that small centres should only get one format at international level. It is also more difficult for Tasmanians to get to games elsewhere. From Wollongong or Geelong (similar size to Hobart) its an easier trip to Sydney or Melbourne than a trip fomr Hobart to Melbourne.

There's every chance that the '95 to '07 era of dominance was always likely to attract the casual cricket fan (and thus increase the idiot ratio). Generally speaking, the moronic element was only ever in force on the Saturday and Sunday. I do think that it's inevitable that there will be a downturn with the greater inconsistency of rebuilding. That said, I get my cricket fix by seeing Tasmania play. Much cheaper, and less carry on.

by that logic, Savvas, it also HAS to be played in the National Capital, too...

... but at the expense of the national capital?

Love to see a test at Canberra. And maybe Newcastle, or the Gold Coast. I loved the top end series too, a few years back that;s where teams like Sri Lanka should play top end like they did in 2003. Canberra would be a good test, and renovated Manuka perfect for a test.

Tasmania is the smallest state. And it does not help that it's capital city, although the biggest city in the state, is not near the largest population area's of the North Coast. But if Cricket is the 'National' Sport that unites this country, then it HAS to be played in the Capital city of each state.

That's interesting Kris. I spent the weekend on the hill for my first visit to Bellerive. One thing that was very noticeable was the looseness of security there, people were getting away with things that would never be allowed at the MCG for example. But that being said, it was all in good fun and a lot of the time there were kids involved in the shenanigans. For me it was a much more relaxed way of watching the cricket... then again there was barely anyone there so perhaps when the crowds are up the idiot ratio is higher. Although how anyone could get pissed on that filthy mid strength beer is beyond me.

Manuka couldn't possibly do any worse, crowd-wise. Lights are currently going up, too, ready for the PMs game and ODI in late Jan-early Feb..