This goose looks sickly

As the interminable VB series finally comes to a conclusion, one has to say that this tired old format is starting to wear off on the Australian public. In the bigger cities of Melbourne and Sydney, which get to see plenty of international cricket each year, the attraction of paying to see Australia take on South Africa or Sri Lanka in a series that leads to a best of three finals is limited.

Friday’s fixture between Australia and South Africa only drew 26,000 to the indoor stadium; for most cities this is a fair turnout, but there was a time when at the MCG over 60,000 would regularly turn out to see the Australians mete it out to whoever the opposition was. And while I was watching Friday’s play on television I noticed that Channel Nine said that tickets were still available for Sunday’s return fixture. These tidings should be of concern to Cricket Australia.

The problem is that there is just too much cricket on for the Australian spectator to digest. The ill-conceived ICC ‘super series’ started the Australian summer in October, and since then we’ve had six Tests between Australia and West Indies and South Africa. This comes on top of a very busy 2005, where the national team was pitted in an epic battle against England. So the passionate cricket lovers of Melbourne have half their attention turned to the return bout against England, which is only nine months away now, and the rest of Melbourne is waiting for the AFL football season to start.

So to make an ODI fixture attractive to the paying public, it has to have some meaning in the greater scheme of things. A preliminary round of the VB series, in the greater scheme of things, means…

Yeah, exactly.

The Australians haven’t done the public much favours, resting key players at various points in the tournament. Given the punishing schedule that they’ve been under, that is understandable, but it still sends a message to the viewer about exactly how highly they rate these games.

Limited overs cricket has revolutionised the game, and, from an administrator’s point of view, have revolutionised the game’s finances. However, there is always a danger of killing the goose that lays the golden eggs. And the fact is, that in Australia anyway, the goose is a bit green around the gills just lately.