Perth Stadium’s resumption as an international cricket host after nearly three years drew Australia’s first respectable crowd of the season – more than 22,000 spectators – on Sunday night.
However a soft opening to the home summer on the Gold Coast and in Brisbane, plus a demanding schedule that had the men’s national team flying from one side of the country to the other for little more than 36 hours, has raised a few questions from broadcasters and players.
England’s Jos Buttler and Matthew Wade of Australia watch the ball go for six at Optus Stadium.Credit:Getty Images
The two matches against the West Indies were virtually a non-starter as far as attendances were concerned. Crowds of about 4000 for the opening game and then fewer than 8000 at the Gabba were hardly the best way to commence a fresh compact between Cricket Australia and its broadcasters in the first non-COVID season out of three.
That deal is summed up as holding CA accountable for the size of crowds that turn up to grounds, and in turn providing an attractive backdrop for its rights holders to attract strong viewing audiences via TV and streaming services.
Where the Gabba’s multicoloured seating has always made it tricky to judge exactly how many spectators are in those seats, the ticketing of just one segment of the Gold Coast’s Metricon Stadium (and correspondingly limited food and beverage options for ticket holders) made for anything but an enticing canvas for watchers. Meanwhile, no seats behind the bowler’s arm robbed attendees of the best spot from which to watch the game.
At the same time, CA’s choices in rescheduling the West Indies and England T20 matches after South Africa’s January ODI series was cancelled raised queries among the Australian team’s planners virtually as they were announced in July.
The national selectors made their objections clear to an itinerary flying players from Brisbane to Perth for just one game and then to Canberra for two before another flight back up to Brisbane ahead of a World Cup warm-up game against India. How? By splitting the squad into three groups to minimise the number of players who had to make the trip.
Marcus Stoinis and Ashton Agar, both recovering from injury, never left Perth. Mitchell Marsh and Kane Richardson, also coming back from injuries, made the trip west early and missed the Gabba game. Adam Zampa, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Glenn Maxwell were all spelled from the Perth game and will return to action in Canberra on Wednesday night.
Australian fans show their support at Sunday’s T20 international in Perth.Credit:Getty Images
Players who did fly, including David Warner, Steve Smith and skipper Aaron Finch, returned to their hotel from the Gabba around midnight before a 4am wake-up call to board a 6.30am flight from Brisbane to Perth on Saturday.
These elaborate travel plans were formulated in reaction to a schedule that balanced CA’s desire to play matches on the Gold Coast and in Canberra with the fact that Perth’s new stadium has, due to COVID border restrictions, not hosted an Australian international match since December 2019.
That drought, plus England’s status as a reliable audience driver, contributed to a Sunday night crowd far healthier than many seen at this time of the season over recent years – even without the presence of prominent players such as Cummins, Starc or Maxwell.
CA’s scheduling team, led by Peter Roach, was unable to consider numerous other venues in early October due to a combination of the end of football season, traditional wet weather in the south-eastern states and venues requisitioned for use by the ICC during the T20 World Cup.
As an example, the MCG will host a practice match between Zimbabwe and Sri Lanka on Tuesday, while the Australian men’s side play two games at Manuka Oval.
The most debatable call was to play one rather than two games in Perth, based on the idea that a single weekend game would draw a better attendance than two on weekdays. Either way, internationals are only being played this early in the season because of the World Cup’s proximity.
The Perth crowd was a sharp improvement from low attendances in Queensland for the West Indies series.Credit:Getty Images
The global T20 event, hosted by Australia for the first time, has arrived at a moment when white-ball internationals are perceived to have slipped somewhat from the central place they once held in the public mind.
As much as it is difficult to gauge broadcast audience figures in an increasingly segmented marketplace, where streaming numbers are still some way from being effectively calculated and added to traditional TV ratings, early season white-ball internationals are still widely viewed.
Eight years ago, a November ODI series between Australia and South Africa also attracted criticism for small crowds at venues, but still managed to attract 1.6 million viewers, the 96th best free-to-air audience of 2014, for game three of the encounter.
The first game of the 2018-19 international season, also an ODI between Australia and South Africa exclusive to Fox Cricket after that year’s $1.2 billion rights deal alongside Seven, was watched by some 277,000 subscribers.
Audiences for Wednesday (about 240,000 when combining linear TV audiences with Kayo streaming) and Friday (about 300,000) were Foxtel’s strongest of those respective days. The current balance between FTA, pay TV and streaming services will be carefully considered before CA’s next domestic rights deal.
