England Coach Andy Flower Disappointed on Low audience attendance
Cricket has nowadays been marred with allegations and controversies. The image of cricket as a sport has badly been affected by match fixing scandal. The reputation and integrity of cricket is on stake and the most depressed are the ardent cricket fans. Cricket lovers seem to be disappointed from the act of their heroes. The ultimate result would be people’s lack of interest in the cricket game.
England Coach Andy Flower rightly read the nerves of cricket fans and has requested cricket fans to maintain their interest in the game. He made an earnest appeal to the British public for their involvement in one day series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755. The unannounced boycott by the British public was evident during the twnty20 match at Sophia Gardens. The match observed one of the lowest attendances in terms of match witness. International matches in England rarely get such a poor response from the cricket lovers.
The poor attendance at Sophia Gardens truly depicts the disappointment amongst the cricket fans with the recent appearance of match fixing scandal. The English coach urged spectators to take interest in one day series.
Cardiff stadium has the capacity to accommodate 15,000 spectators, however to the utter disappointment of Cricket organizers, only 5,821 tickets were sold for second match. The figure is not even one third of the total capacity of ground. Besides people’s disappointment from the recent alleged scam, certain other factors may have attributed to such a low turnout rate.
The match was scheduled in the midweek. The scheduling may have affected many people’s plan to witness the match due to their own commitments. Secondly autumn season in England may have stopped many people from witnessing the match in the stadium, rather people preferred to view the match at their cozy bedrooms.
Third factor was dismal performance by the Pakistani team. People tend to prefer matches where a healthy competition is expected. People did predict one side performance by England and preferred to stay at home. One sided and low performance matches rarely create excitement and enthusiasm amongst the people to witness it.
Andy Flower expressed his utter disappointment over the lack of interest exhibited by British Cricket fans. He was surprised at the lowest attendance by people in the match. According to flower, he never observed such lack of interest and poor attendance ever before in England. He termed the crowd to be the smallest he ever observed for English team in England.
Andy Flower said that weather may have been a factor in poor attendance but people should have come there to support national side. With such a small crowd in England, English team failed to gain the required support from their country mates. Andy further said that one sided match did not prove to be a great contest even for the people who came to witness the match. Andy opined that the English team domination did not provide an enthralling match for the spectators although team enjoyed it very much.
Last year at same period of the calendar, England faced a 6-1 defeat in the seven match one day series. The series occurred just after the Ashes and the people turn out remained exemplary despite the humiliating defeat by the English team. As a matter of fact, England did give a strong fight but remained unsuccessful against their fate. On the other hand Pakistani team already stricken with match fixing scam failed to display a fight against England. Hence the one sided match did not attract the interest of cricket fans and a small crowd came to witness the match.
English team T20 captain Paul Collingwood also raised apprehensions on the scheduling of the match. He attributed small crowd with scheduling of the match. Small crowds lessen the entertainment and enthusiasm associated with Cricket competition. Players desire support from the crowd and a huge crowd enhances the player’s motivation to perform. ECB must review its match scheduling strategy for the nest year in order to avoid low attendance in English stadiums.
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