Remember the days when Kingsmead cricket ground was packed full to see Barry Richards, Mike Procter and Graeme Pollock, and, in an earlier era, Neil Adcock, Peter Heine and Hugh Tayfield?
This question, asked by fan Michael Green, was one of many raised by followers of the game who voiced their sadness at the relatively low turn-out for Jacques Kallis’s last Test match for the Proteas, which ended in Durban on Monday.
Kallis, who scored a century in the victory over India, walked out to a Boxing Day crowd of 14 000 for his final five-day performance. Unfortunately, the attendances tailed off from there, with an average of about 6 500 fans coming in each day to say goodbye to arguably the greatest all-rounder of the modern game.
The fact that on day one of the Ashes Boxing Day Test in Melbourne a world record 90 000 fans packed the stands only highlighted the low turn-out back home.
“It is a concern and something we will look at addressing. We would like to have had more people (for Kallis’s last match),” said Cricket South Africa spokesman Altaaf Khazi.
He added the timing of Kallis’s retirement announcement – on Christmas Day – did not aide their cause.
“The Kallis announcement caught us all by surprise. If we had known, we would have put plans in place,” he said, adding that the marketing efforts were as per normal for a Test match.
Regardless of the Kallis retirement, Khazi said it was a concern that Test match cricket was not being attended by more people.
“It can’t be ticket prices. If you look at T20 and ODI (One Day International) ticket prices they are triple (that of Tests), and we sell out,” said Khazi.
Ticket prices for the Test in Durban ranged from R70 to R130.
Khazi said a lack of sound public transport and parking space kept people away, and weather forecasts played a part in the turn-out.
The poor turn-out was not a problem unique to Durban, according to the chief executive of Dolphins Cricket, Jesse Chellan.
“Attendance across South Africa, besides Cape Town, has followed a similar pattern,” he said.
Chellan said part of his and Cricket South Africa’s challenge was, as custodians of the game, to educate people about Test cricket, create an environment where fans were excited about Test cricket, and get more bums on seats.
“In a society where everything is about instant gratification, we need to get people to appreciate Test cricket and the nuances of the game,” said Chellan.
“It could also be that the TV product is so good that people want to stay at home.”
Khazi and Chellan both stated that all concerned parties would be sitting down in the near future to look at what could be done to attract more people to stadiums for the five-day format.
Khazi said, however, that Durban was not under threat of losing the Boxing Day Test for the foreseeable future. And the financial implications of low ticket sales would not leave the game in financial dire straits, as television rights brought in large revenues.
“We don’t want the stadiums empty, though. The players need the atmosphere,” said Chellan. - The Mercury