Legendary cricket commentator Kerry O’Keefe has blasted sports fans and media in Australia for contributing to the country losing love for the game in recent years.
Cricket in Australia has endured a rollercoaster couple of years coming out of the Covid-era, with questionable TV rights deals alongside on-field controversies plaguing the sport’s media coverage.
Test matches in recent years, aside from the Boxing Day Test, have seen a significant reduction in fan attendance, whilst the nation’s top white ball competition has suffered continual struggles.
With Amazon Prime announcing a deal to show the next round of ICC events exclusively, O’Keefe revealed his desire for cricket to be readily available to all Australians.
“I don’t know much about streaming, all I know is I want us as a nation to have cricket available more and more, deep down, we’ve lost our love of it,” O’Keefe told SEN.com.au.
“I don’t want to be talking about Addin Fonua-Blake in November, it’s driving me nuts, please.”
Fonua-Blake’s request for a release from the New Zealand Warriors has dominated the off-season headlines in both NSW and Queensland, whilst the start of the cricketing summer has fallen under the radar, according to O’Keefe.
“When I hear sports talkback people on other stations, it’s early November and they say, ‘Oh I can’t wait for Round One of the NRL’, please… give yourself an uppercut, what is going on,” O’Keefe added.
“If we lose our love of the game, it should be propagated by people in the media, I don’t care if it’s seen as our national sport or not.”
“The nations that rise in cricket are the ones that are absolutely passionate about the game.
“India for a start, they’re the juggernaut and we’re talking about Addin Fonua-Blake and where he might go in 2027, please, will the Dragons get the spoon? Who cares in November, who cares in March? Come on.”
Australia will officially start its Test series against Pakistan next Thursday in Perth.