{"id":354341,"date":"2023-12-18T18:13:40","date_gmt":"2023-12-18T19:13:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=354341"},"modified":"2023-12-18T20:02:48","modified_gmt":"2023-12-18T20:02:48","slug":"grim-sign-for-test-cricket-that-must-be-addressed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=354341","title":{"rendered":"Grim sign for Test cricket that must be addressed"},"content":{"rendered":"

In an ideal world, Nathan Lyon's<\/a> long-awaited 500th Test wicket would have played out in front of packed grandstands. In reality, it hardly got the rapturous applause it deserved.<\/p>\n

With a little over 9000 fans turning up for what proved to be the final day of Australia's first Test match against Pakistan, the 60,000-capacity Perth Stadium felt largely empty.<\/p>\n

The 'West Test' averaged just under 15,000 spectators per day \u2013 not even enough to reach capacity at the famed WACA down the road with its 18,000 capacity.<\/p>\n

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Criticism on social media was prevalent, yet Cricket Australia wasn't unhappy with the turnout on day two.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley said on day two of the Test that CA was "on the right trajectory", although he conceded to SEN radio that it had budgeted for 20,000 to 25,000 fans.<\/p>\n

The most well-attended day peaked at 17,666 spectators, which it turned out was a record for Test matches between Australia and Pakistan in Perth, of which there have now been six, won by the home side.<\/p>\n

Yet there's no shying away from the fact that 50,000 seats remained empty when Lyon took his 500th wicket \u2013 a key moment in Australian sports history \u2013 to steer his team to victory.<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/danbrettig\/status\/1735949896673534187<\/a><\/p>\n

Wide World of Sports commentator and former Test captain Mark Taylor said the empty seats should serve as a reminder to Cricket Australia that a rethink is needed.<\/p>\n

"I think the numbers are disappointing. You'd love to see more than that at a Test match, particularly on the weekend," said Taylor.<\/p>\n

"Unfortunately it's a bit of a trend with so much cricket on. With the T20s and one-dayers and what have you, it's not easy to get crowds to all the games.<\/p>\n

"What I'm hearing from the locals over there is that they're getting much bigger crowds for the Big Bash games, the Scorchers games, than they are for the Test matches. It's not a great sign for Test match cricket."<\/p>\n

https:\/\/twitter.com\/1an_Higgins\/status\/1736234845708415430<\/a><\/p>\n

Taylor reckons the solution is just down the road.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He believes cricket's governing body should put its pride aside and return to its roots for matches that mightn't be as well attended.<\/p>\n

In the end, a small but full stadium is a better look than one that's largely empty.<\/p>\n

"It might be something that they'll consider, maybe even using the WACA or something for Test matches in the future for games that aren't blockbuster Test matches, for sure," he added.<\/p>\n

"It's probably a better look. I think India and England, those sorts of Test matches, you could probably still play at Perth Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"I'm sure that Cricket Australia would be, and should be, considering maybe taking those sort of Test matches that aren't big draw cards back to the WACA in the future when they finish the redevelopment."<\/p>\n

\"There<\/p>\n

Perth copped a whack last year for its dire turnout when the West Indies toured. Then, fans could be forgiven for not wanting to watch a team with few household names \u2013 but the likes of elite batter Babar Azam and rising star Shaheen Shah Afridi do warrant some fanfare.<\/p>\n

Taylor wonders what attendance will be like for the forthcoming Boxing Day Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground and the series finale at the Sydney Cricket Ground in the new year.<\/p>\n

"I think those two Test matches you talked about \u2013 MCG and SCG \u2013 certainly are more events. That's the right word," he explained.<\/p>\n

\"Fans<\/p>\n

"But it will be interesting to see what the crowds are like.<\/p>\n

"I think the good news that came out of that last game was that Pakistan played fairly well.\u00a0<\/p>\n

"They didn't have a good first day which didn't help. Australia, 0-117 at lunch on day one sort of got Australia off to a great start and Pakistan off to a not-so-great start. After that I thought they were pretty good.<\/p>\n

"I think the names you're talking about will be more suited to the MCG and the SCG. There's no doubt when we looked at the schedule and you see Australia v Pakistan in Perth is the first Test match that you always knew that was gonna be a tough assignment for Pakistan who don't play on pitches like that all that often."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In an ideal world, Nathan Lyon's long-awaited 500th Test wicket would have played out in front of packed grandstands. In reality, it hardly got the […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":354343,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354341"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=354341"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354341\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":354347,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/354341\/revisions\/354347"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/354343"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=354341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=354341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=354341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}