A crowd worthy of a Sheffield Shield match witnessed Australia retain the Frank Worrell Trophy at the MCG on Tuesday.
Just 7,161 attended the fourth day of the second Test, the lowest figure in recent memory for a full day’s play in Melbourne.
The poor showing from touring side West Indies was a major factor behind the low attendance.
Visiting captain Jason Holder said he hoped that didn’t preclude his team from playing at the home of Australian cricket in the future.
“It’s a wonderful occasion, a big match,” he said.
“When we first got here it was really good to walk on the field and take in the atmosphere of the actual ground.
“They’re big games and big occasions. These are things our players really strive to do well in.”
The figure is embarrassing for Cricket Australia, which took the first Test venue of Bellerive Oval in Hobart to task for failing to get turnstiles moving.
The much smaller city and venue averaged 5,114 people across three days play in Tasmania.
A Cricket Australia spokesperson said there were no complaints with the total tally in Melbourne.
“The overall crowd total of 127,069 people who attended the Test match over the four days certainly met our expectations.”
The MCG crowd was also criticised on behavioural grounds, with around 180 people ejected from the first two days’ play.
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