The BBL may save the Boxing Day Test
If Twenty20 pyrotechnics do not grab the attention of the younger generation, then Boxing Day crowds may begin to go the same way as those of the one-day game, says Malcolm Conn, writing for Foxsports.com .
Nikita Bastian
25-Feb-2013
If Twenty20 pyrotechnics do not grab the attention of the younger generation, then Boxing Day crowds may begin to go the same way as those of the one-day game, says Malcolm Conn, writing for Foxsports.com.
... there were only two crowds of above 50,000 on the opening day of the MCG Test during the first 15 years of the "tradition", both against England. It wasn't until Sri Lanka attracted a surprisingly healthy 55,000 on Boxing Day 1995 that large crowds became a regular feature of cricket's biggest day.This was about the time that the primary school kids who were seduced by the one-day razzmatazz of lights, coloured clothes and action introduced by World Series Cricket had grown into discerning adults ... The bad news was that with sports fans under 25 there is an increasing vacuum and with 10-15 year-olds cricket ranks eighth [among Australia's most popular sports].
Nikita Bastian is a sub-editor at ESPNcricinfo