Australia will step onto the SCG on Friday with the sole focus of wrapping up a third victory and the ODI series against what has so far been a lacklustre West Indies side.
But while the 11 men on the field will be focussed at the task at hand, there will be plenty casting their eyes across the stands to see just how many empty seats there are at the ground.
The record low crowd for a One-Day International at the Adelaide Oval for the second match between Ricky Ponting’s men and the Caribbean side has, naturally enough, been viewed by some as an indication of the decline of the 50-over format’s popularity with the public.
It was not so long ago that ODI’s provided some of cricket’s most nail-biting drama. When Australian crowds were glued to their seats both in the stands and in front of their TVs as the required run-rate slipped to a run a ball. Those were the days when Michael Bevan anchored the middle order, and as long as there was a ball remaining, hopes remained alive.
Whether it’s the quality of opposition on offer this Australian summer or the fact that Twenty20 cricket has now captured the public imagination in a way ODIs used to do, back when they were the most fast and furious form of the game, is open for debate. But it’s hard to argue with the bare crowd figures both at the Adelaide Oval and at the MCG for the opening ODI of the series.
After the West Indies’ insipid performance in front of around 25,000 fans at the MCG in the series opener, just 8,378 bothered turning up to the ground in Adelaide to watch what was another lopsided contest. Those figures indicate that something is indeed rotten in the state of Denmark, or at least the state of ODI cricket.
Remember that the MCG has a capacity of over 90,000 people and that just a couple of days before that a shade over 60,000 fans made their way to the iconic ground for what was ultimately a nail-biting Twenty20 match between Australia and Pakistan.
Consider too that the Big Bash domestic Twenty20 competition in Australia attracted a record crowd of 43,125 at the MCG during January for a match between Victoria and Tasmania. It doesn’t take a calculator to work out that nearly 20,000 people preferred to watch two state teams contest a Twenty20 in Melbourne than show up to the ground to watch the world’s best ODI team in action.
The questions now are twofold. Why? And that needs to quickly be followed by: What can be done? Neither present a clear-cut answer at this stage. Potential reasons for the low crowds in the opening two ODIS between Australia and the West Indies might range from ticket prices; scheduling (the Adelaide ODI was played midweek); the vast difference in the standard of the home team and its Caribbean visitors, as evidenced by two lopsided contests so far; and to the fact crowds have fallen out of love with the 50-over game and now find the brash young Twenty20 game far more alluring.
It’s that last one that is the real cause for concern for One-Day International cricket, if that actually proves to be the case across into the future, and which will leave the powers that be plenty of food for thought as they attempt to woo back the crowds.
For now, though, Australia has an ODI series to win and the West Indies some pride to salvage, regardless of how many fans are in the stands to watch.
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