Veteran cricket journalist John Townsend isn’t expecting much of a crowd at Australia’s first Test of the summer which kicks off next Wednesday in Perth.
Townsend, who recently finished up as The West Australian’s Chief Cricket writer after 27 years at the newspaper, is hearing that there haven’t even been 1000 tickets sold in the pre-sale to the Optus Stadium Test.
“I’m hearing that ticket pre-sales, it’s only a week before the match, are in the hundreds, not the thousands but in the hundreds of sales,” Townsend told Sportsday WA.
“It could be a record-low West Australian Test.”
Perth’s lowest Test crowd in recent memory came on Day 1 of the 2003 Test between Australia and Zimbabwe at the WACA Ground where less than 8000 patrons attended.
Townsend expects to see similar numbers this time around, albeit at a far bigger venue.
“Remember when Zimbabwe came in October of 2003? It was one of the very few Tests played before November,” Townsend said.
“For that game, crowds were in the low thousands and I think this could be replicated again next week.
“It’s very sad, at a stadium that’s a fantastic place to play cricket.”
Townsend believes that the West Indies’ poor form and the sentiment around the team from WA-based fans will be the reason behind the low turnout.
“I think there’s a lot of elements in Australian cricket and West Australian cricket at the moment that are working against the best interest of the game,” Townsend said.
“I think we’re going to see it, people will vote with their feet.
“Whether it’ll be embarrassing or not, that’s for the people to decide but I think it’s going to be very low.”
The first Test between Australia and the West Indies at Perth’s Optus Stadium will begin at 1:20 pm (AEDT) on Wednesday.