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Those who are ready to hammer that final nail into Test cricket’s coffin need look no further than the attendance across the four days of the first Test match at Durban, between the number two and number three ranked teams in the world.
Day one of the marquee match-up saw 3957 turn up, akin to a Sheffield Shield fixture. Given Kingsmead seats 25,000 people, it was not the viewing spectacle or atmosphere the match deserved.
Kevin Pietersen took to Twitter to describe the scene on day one as “a poor message for Test cricket”.
General consensus from connections in Durban, is that Thursday is a working day & the crowds will improve tomorrow & over the weekend.
Let’s see!
Certainly a poor message for Test cricket!
— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) March 1, 2018
Support for Test cricket is dwindling the world over and I’m not sure any amount of evolution or bells and whistles can save the format.
The Durban crowds are in stark contrast to even last month’s meaningless T20 international tri-series across Australia and New Zealand, which were well patronised. The February 3 clash in Sydney between Australia and the Kiwis saw an attendance of 25,621 – a great turn out considering the scheduling of the series after a glut of international cricket and in the hangover from the Big Bash.
The caveat is that Test matches in Durban and Port Elizabeth have never traditionally drawn the numbers that bean counters and board members pine for. The late summer start to this series also sets up a clash to get bums on seats and eyeballs on screens with Super Rugby’s traditional February season start.
Given the first Test started on a Thursday in late February, some grace could be afforded. Tickets were offered at a discounted rate to encourage fans, however they still didn’t come, with the weekend’s numbers just a tick under 5000.
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English broadcaster BT Sport reportedly coughed up £80 million for the rights to distribute the Ashes coverage, with an average daily viewer count of less than 100,00 and a peak of 340,000.
However, nearly 15 million people tuned into Channel Nine’s broadcast of the five-Test Ashes, a peak viewing audience of 2.3 million during the Sydney Test.
That was coupled with the best gate attendances since Don Bradman wore the baggy green, with 866,732 peple collectively attending, making it the second most attended of all time behind only the 1936-37 series. The numbers fly in the face of England’s Moen Ali who proclaimed, “The crowds were disappointing in general.”
The numbers never quite tell the whole truth yet they are a close approximation and Test match cricket in Australia is hanging on.
Perhaps Australia, the spiritual home of one one-day cricket under lights, is one of the last bastions for Test match cricket?
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