Rodney Hogg and Ian Chappell are certainly better cricketers than I am. Even at this stage in their lives I’m sure they both would murder me at a game of one-wicket cricket.
But in terms of how they read the future of the game, I’m going to have to throw the both of them into the curmudgeon bucket.
As I recently wrote here on The Roar, everything has been ruining cricket ever since curmudgeons have been putting pen to paper.
Hoggy and Chappelli have both this week jumped on the T20 bashwagon calling the West Indies’ win in the T20 world cup as the harbinger of the ‘extinction’ of Test cricket.
Hogg’s justification comes from the sheer numbers that T20 brings. stating the West Indies will never be “back for Test cricket”, instead coming over for “25 days, 10 T20 games, 500,000 see the games you make a fortune”.
There’s several assumptions I would like to challenge in that idea.
The first is that if the West Indies came out and played ten games they would average 50,000 at each event. So that means getting sell-out crowds in Adelaide and Brisbane, record crowds in Sydney, and not playing at all in Hobart, Perth, or Canberra – unless of course the suggestion is to play five of those ten games at the MCG.
As much as Melburnians love sport, I just don’t see there being that much staying power in the crowds. That goes for the whole idea.
I just can’t see the interest being sustained over ten matches when the only thing at stake is a series win. Not to mention the disaster the final five matches would be if one side goes 5-0.
Part of the appeal of having a tour that is Test, ODI, and T20. Different versions of the game bring different opportunities. There’s three series on the line, with all the narratives involved in that for the sports journos to hype up the paying public over.
The next assumption is that it is ground takings and not TV ratings that pays for cricket. Nine’s contract for Australian Tests is some $80m a year, around 21 per cent total revenue.
It’s hard to find break downs of how much Cricket Australia get from gate takings, but it’s estimated that after putting on the World Cup, CA would have made a profit of about $20m (the TV rights of course going to the ICC).
Bums on seats is essentially only important for atmospherics for the TV viewers, it’s not a financial consideration.
The third assumption is that Test cricket is somehow dying in this country. I’ve looked at ratings and attendances over the past decade and a half and while I won’t bore you with the all the figures here’s some stats that tell the whole story.
In 2005 the Ashes was shown on SBS because Channel 9 had given up on Test cricket at that point (that they’re back says something).
Test three, Australia were 2-0 down and fighting to stay in the series. Session 1, Shane Warne on 599 wickets.
Prime time in Southern Australia in the midst of a cold snap unprecedented in recent years. Average: 916 000 viewers.
Compare that with the dead rubber day one of the third Test against the West Indies this year.
January 3, glorious weather across the whole continent, the last day of a long New Year’s weekend. 718 000 viewers.
Or if that’s not impressive take the four days of the Boxing Day Test: 999 000, 1.094m, 994 000 and 901 000.
What about prime Test time cricket against a strong opponent? The only programmes that got near the Perth and Adelaide (day/night) Tests in terms of ratings were the news on Channels 7 and 9, which the cricket breaks for and has ready eyeballs on the box.
Day 3 in Adelaide peaked at 1.614 million viewers, making it the most watched cricket broadcast of the year.
It’s hard to find ratings going further back than that, but the 2005 Ashes series was considered a boom year for Test matches on TV.
On Test attendances, if you take out English tours when the averages per day spike to over 30,000 and Boxing Day hits close to 90,000, they are consistently in the 18,000–20,000 per day region with Boxing Day in the 60s.
Indian tours are also rising quickly and will possibly rival Ashes games if they stay on their current trajectory. Attendances were down this year but that can be almost entirely explained by lowest Boxing Day crowd since 1994.
Although it was larger than every Boxing Day crowd between 1980 and 1994, with the exceptions the ’82 and ’86 Ashes.
On beginning this article, I was prepared to suggest that the poor ratings for the Windies was because they were a poor team, and their Test cricket is in a shambles, and it could be seen that T20 is making it so.
But research uncovered that there were no poor ratings. Yes they were lower than the New Zealand series, but they were still higher than they were for an Ashes eleven years ago.
Test cricket is the only daytime programme that ever makes it into the top 20 rating programmes for the day.
It’s the only thing you can stick on in the middle of the day in summer and have three quarters of a million pairs of eyes watching ads. The Australian Open tennis only gets those kinds of figures at night, for the big matches.
So the facts are in. T20 isn’t killing Test cricket, in any way imaginable. And if you think it is, there’s good chance you’re a curmudgeon.
I think I see a cloud you can go and yell at.
Anthony Condon is a cricket historian at La Trobe University.
Craig Swanson
Guest
That may well be the case at the moment. But Ireland is desperate to gain Test cricket status. The players were spitting fire when told that their was only to be 10 nations for the next ODI WC. On the flip side they were ecstatic when they learned that should they win the 2018 Intercontinental Cup they would get a Test match against the current lowest ranked test team. The first step on the rung to being a fully fledged test playing nation. Then perhaps once Ireland does gain test status and begins playing regularly against the elite countries of the game, interest will rise markedly.
Johnno
Guest
Anthony Condon the writer, read my post below this one and my views, I'd like to hear your opinion on them,
The Bush
Roar Guru
Football regularly gets 1m viewers does it? No, it doesn't. Big football watching figures in Australia are based around "event watching", i.e. world cups. You "guessing" that the type of person who watches Test Cricket is different to the type of person that watches the BBL is just that, you "guessing". The figures seem to suggest the market is exactly the same size, it would be very odd if the two were completely different markets... Back in reality, Channel 9 is likely over the moon with the ratings from the summer: http://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/australia-v-india-international-cricket-still-king-when-it-comes-to-television-ratings-20160114-gm5lj6.html If Channel 9 is in some sort of financial troubles, it's got nothing to do with the ratings from Test Cricket and ODI cricket.
Johnno
Guest
Out of the 10-Test playing Nations, all of them but 4 I see in vulnerable-status. Aust/Eng/India/NZ are the only 4 safe ones I see. The other 6 for different and varied reasons I all see in vulnerable category. Ireland also cricket is not as big there as some cricket fans make out. I talk to a lot of mainstream middle class to working class Irish people who live in Ireland and are aged from 16-55, and they all laugh and say cricket is barely on the radar of the Irish masses. A bit like rugby union fans who think USA rugby union has gone all mainstream in the States, it hasn't and a long way to go. Irish cricket is the same and as said I'm talking on a regular basis to Irish people aged 16-55 who actually are Irish and live in Ireland.
anon
Guest
So if a football game gets a million viewers, then we are to assume that only one million people in Australia watch football and cricket.... I'm guessing the type of person who tunes in for test cricket is generally different to that of the person who watches the BBL. Just like if you attend test cricket the type of person in attendance is far different to who attends BBL matches. Channel 9's in all kinds of financial trouble because test ratings were a dud last summer.
Sydneysider
Guest
"Essentially cricket is at saturation point in Australia. Any increase in viewing figures will only ever be in line with population growth, the sport is otherwise essentially at maximum market exposure." Agreed. Not only that but with the ICC and the big 3 taking most of the revenue, test cricket won't expand.
The Bush
Roar Guru
All that tells me is that the cricket watching public in this country constitutes about 1m people and that it doesn't matter what is being played, those 1m will tune in over summer and watch it in prime time. Essentially cricket is at saturation point in Australia. Any increase in viewing figures will only ever be in line with population growth, the sport is otherwise essentially at maximum market exposure.
anon
Guest
BBL does one million during the week. Here are Sunday rating for the test match last year. It was the Perth Test, so the second and third sessions are effectively in prime time. http://www.goldcoastbulletin.com.au/news/breaking-news/nine-news-wins-tv-ratings-on-sunday/news-story/717a523e07f8c850600b5b225faac08c Most watched shows on Sunday 1. Nine News (Nine) - 1.170 million 2. Seven News (Seven) - 1.151 million 3. Second Test - Aus v NZ 3rd session (Nine) - 1.097 million 4. Sunday Night (Seven) - 1.085 million 5. 60 Minutes rpt (Nine) - 974,000 6. Mary: The Making Of A Princess (Ten) - 929,000 7. Second Test - Aus v NZ 2nd session (Nine) - 879,000 8. Beach Cops (Seven) - 872,000 9. The Cricket Show (Nine) - 789,000 10.Second Test - Aus v NZ 1st session (Nine) - 775,000 So solid ratings, but on a Sunday, in prime time, the ratings for the national test side were no better than the ratings for the average BBL game (which is played by men in garish fluorescent uniforms for teams that people have yet to grown an affinity for). I know you'll come up with a bunch of excuses, but you're just denying reality at this point.
Bearfax
Guest
Agreed. Many of these short form games are played in the evening when people are home to watch them. test cricket is too often played during the week and finishes when people are getting home. If test cricket was played in the evenings, the TV figures I believe would sky rocket.
VivGilchrist
Guest
What's killing Test cricket is the ICC. Ireland and Afghanistan are dying to join the ranks but to no avail. Unrealistic ticket prices/packages and midweek Tests are killing it elsewhere.
VivGilchrist
Guest
BBL is played during prime time during the holiday season. Play it during the day while people are at work and it wouldn't match Tests in the equivalent time slots.
Bearfax
Guest
Maybe that's why test cricket needs limited overs per innings, say 120. Unless it rains that is just about 5 days if both sides bat for their full complement.
Anthony Condon
Guest
Good pick up Alan. It's a sorry state of affairs.
Anthony Condon
Guest
That's possible, and not something I've done the research on.
Anthony Condon
Guest
Not to mention in a test it's no fun to watch for five days with no result (unless it's a cracker and deserves to be a draw).
BBA
Guest
Perhaps it is fair to say that T20 cricket hasn't damaged Test cricket in Australia or England, but it may be damaging cricket elsewhere. There seems to be no possibility of expansion of Test cricket to those outside the "club", some nations dont get to play against others much and crowds seem relatively poor outside Aus/Eng and India.
Jason Rebelo
Roar Pro
That's so very true. In every form of the game pitches have to offer something to the bowlers, or else it becomes boring to watch. You could see that in India, the pitches took spin and 130 was almost par, the games were great to watch. If this summer the pitches are as flat as they were for the past two years I'll struggle to watch more than an hour a game. It's no fun watching the bowlers being slaughtered.
AlanKC
Guest
Anthony, the WICB (now Cricket Wiest Indies) has been the subject of 4 reviews, the latest in November last year. They've refused to act on much apart from changing their name (and this was proposed in 2007) and Tony Cozier isn't expecting much to change after the latest review. http://www.espncricinfo.com/magazine/content/story/982043.html "Hope still lingers that the board might finally be moved by the reality that is if it does not accept the need for reform, the revival that has been elusive for two decades will remain that way."
Anthony Condon
Guest
There almost needs to be a Truth and Reconciliation Commission for the board and the players ;)
Anthony Condon
Guest
It doesn't matter if BBL rates higher, it matters if test ratings are dropping, and whether or not it rates against other things it's up against. That's what decides whether it's worth buying the rights to. But since you've asked, the the BBL final got 1.074m. Semi's 774 000 and 789 000. So they rate really well, but not as well as test cricket does in the same time slot. These ratings figures are the five city distribute that I've used for the rest of the article.