Test side facing complex issues to appeal to fans with Cricket Australia slammed for failings
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A expected sellout at the Gabba for the first Test against South Africa just a month after a fiendish crowd in Perth have laid bare the complex issues facing Australian cricket’s perception problem.
Many former Australian legends, including Michael Clarke and Adam Gilchrist, have said that fans have been voting with their feet when it comes to the men’s side.
Over five days in Perth, just 41,918 fans turned out for the first Test match of the summer against the West Indies, while there were more seagulls than people who turned out in droves for an irrelevant ODI series with England that began just days after the Cup. World T20.
After a glorious era led by Mark Taylor, Steve Waugh and then Ricky Ponting, controversy has continued to plague men’s cricket in Australia, although the women enjoy soaring sentiment thanks to the wide appeal of players like Alyssa Healy and Ellyse Perry.
The Australian side celebrate, with a nearly empty crowd in the background, winning the first test in Perth. A much better audience is expected for the South African series
Captain Pat Cummins’ outspoken stance on climate change has alienated some supporters, particularly given today’s environment of top athletes wanting a say in multi-billion dollar advertising decisions.
When he appeared to force Cricket Australia to drop a $40m sponsorship with energy company Alinta over its climate change agenda, opinion of the national team plummeted further.
Cricket Australia denied that Cummins had anything to do with the partnership which would not continue beyond the year in a statementbut public perception remains the same.
But is an open agenda on climate change the reason why fans in Brisbane will gather in a sold-out Gabba for the first day of the Test against South Africa… but not for the first of the summer against the Indies? Westerners in Perth last week?
Australian captain Pat Cummins (right) and popular spinner Nathan Lyon (left) look on during the first Test against the West Indies. The men’s Test side in particular has faced a roller coaster of public sentiment.
The climate-focused Greens party won four inner Brisbane seats in the federal election; but that’s a long bow to draw and infer.
New True North research suggests many would prefer Cummins and his teammates to stay with cricket, but the players are also bearing the brunt of “Cricket Australia head office failures”, according to news corporation.
“The Australian men’s Test team often bears the brunt of Cricket Australia’s front office failures and the sport’s ability to shoot itself in the foot,” the report said.
The ball-handling saga and the ugly handling of the departures of Justin Langer and Tim Paine as coach and captain respectively by the front office are easy examples of that.
However, True North director Chris Hobden said it was still clear that the outspoken views of Cummins and company had some effect.
A rowdy Brisbane crowd creates a ‘beer snake’ on the first day of the Ashes test at the Gabba last year. Another sellout is expected on day one against South Africa…in stark contrast to the devilish crowds for the West Indies game in Perth.
A lone fan watches the first day action between Australia and the West Indies at Optus Stadium in Perth, and there wasn’t much else there but him.
“Cricket fans are on both sides of that debate (whether sports stars should raise cultural and political issues),” he told the report.
“There is a cohort, often younger, that is more likely to be in favor of climate change. On the opposite side are those who hold more traditional views.
“The former are very supportive of sport playing a role in sustainability and reducing its impact on the environment, as they hold similar views, but there are others, particularly an older cohort, who feel that sport should not get involved in these issues,” he said. Hobden.
Apart from that, there is the sadly obvious fact that South Africa presents a much better quality and more popular opponent than the West Indies.
An image from the Ticketek site (green circle is free seats, gray is taken) shows that there are only two seats available in one of the Gabba bays for the first day of the first test against South Africa on December 17.
Only one seat is available in a similar space well over a week before the game, in stark contrast to the day before the Perth Test, where full slots were available at the Optus Stadium.
Particularly when the Tests against the first one are in the school holidays instead of a day of graveyard 1 on a Wednesday; as was the case in Perth.
“They started the Test Match (against the West Indies) on a Wednesday and that’s not friendly to people who are at work or children who are at school,” Aussie Test legend Damien Fleming said in SEN Radio on Wednesday.
‘It’s not on school holidays and it’s against an opposition that, let’s be honest, didn’t know much about the public before that Test Match.
“The Gabba, in a couple of weeks (for South Africa) approaching the school holidays, it’s almost sold out,” Fleming said.
The first Test against South Africa, which is ranked third in the world, begins on December 17, right in the traditional summer of cricket.
A press release from Cricket Australia on Tuesday said they expected the first day to sell out, with only a few hundred tickets available; something that is easy to see when you try to buy tickets at the ticketek place.
That is in contrast to the fact that only a few thousand tickets were sold before the opening day in Perth last week.
Optus Stadium, which has a capacity of 60,000, still had an alarming number of tickets available the day before the start of the first day of the Perth Test (blue is empty seats, far right is a closed bay due to the peephole)
The graphics on the Ticketmaster site show a large number of seats available (in blue) only one since the start of summer cricket
“The NRMA Insurance Brisbane Test is always one of the great occasions on the cricket calendar, and the matchup between the Australian and South African attacks will make this encounter particularly memorable,” said a statement issued by Cricket Australia.
The cheapest adult ticket is an inherently reasonable $30, and many bays show only one seat available with 10 days left until the first ball is thrown.
So perhaps people in other areas, and in different formats, are voting with their feet against the governing body for the game in Australia, not just the men’s side.