I've been watching the the england vs sri lanka test series and at times have enjoyed the cricket. The pundits have been talking about how to make the game better and get more people through the gates. Here's my thoughts
1. Make the tickets more affordable - travel, food, tickets, drinks, maybe a hotel its bloody expensive to watch england and is enough to put most off paying.
2. Poor pitches - flat 5 day pitches with no encouragement for the bowlers and just racking up big scores arent good enough, results pitches are the way forward, however I know this is difficult, you dont want a game that is decided on the toss
3. Less cricket - england play a massive amount of games 7 tests 10 odis and 2 T20 matches to me is far to much for a english summer, its difficult to sustain interest. To me 5 tests and 6 odis would keep people enthusiastic about international cricket. Also will result in less injuries so people get to see the top players when international cricket is played. Losing people like Gough, Bond, Jones or Freddie for much of their careers was a massive shame
4. T20 problem - players earn too much playing T20 the loss of Malinga or Tait to test cricket is a shame. It should be that test players earn the most money to make test cricket the pinnacle of the game.
Any thoughts?
The problem with test cricket
posted on 8/6/11
You raise some good points, it's a shame no-one has bothered to answer.
You're right about the ticket pricing. It should certainly be made more affordable as once you take travel and beer money into account, it's a fair old wedge and that's just for one day out of five.
I'd personally try and focus on giving more tickets away to schools. After the 2005 Ashes cricket was given a great platform to attract more youngsters to the game. Sadly, besides a few initiatives I think from ASDA, this hasn't been milked as much as it should.
Oh, and stop holding games in Cardiff. The support for what was our first home outing since the Ashes triumph was nothing short of a joke. Had that game been at Headingley or Old Trafford it would have been a sell-out. If not, then it's just poor marketing.
posted on 8/6/11
Woah, Woah, whats wrong with tests at Cardiff?
Old Trafford has its old problems, remember the 2005 Ashes Tests when 10,000 people were locked out?
Cardiff's downfall was the weather. Had it been warm and sunny, I bet Cardiff would have seen more before.
Also Old Trafford is more smaller than Sophia Gardens while Headingley....well, how and why the ECB gave it Test Status was wrong.
posted on 8/6/11
FoxesofNuneaton, sorry but you're just so wrong about the attendences, the ground in Cardiff, even when full, has about 7,000 fewer seats than Old Trafford did as a Test venue and will be 10,000 seats smaller than Old Trafford is when fully redeveloped, so consider 22,000+ at the '05 Ashes Test, well over 10,000 locked out and god knows how many that turned round when they heard the news and you'll see that Cardiff is just a bad idea when audience numbers are considered.
Not that I have anything against Tests at Cardiff, but who in their right mind decides to host them in May when that city has 2-3 inches more rain than even Manchester does in that month?