#360view: Get kids involved around Test cricket

Joy Chakravarty 09:20 22/10/2015
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  • Empty seats: Abu Dhabi.

    The empty stadium during the first Test match in Abu Dhabi between Pakistan and England took away a lot from the magnificent efforts of Shoaib Malik, Alastair Cook and Adil Rashid.

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    The second Test starts on Thursday in Dubai, and chances are, the stadium will be empty again. However, it is not a malady that cricket is suffering from uniquely in the UAE.

    Similar scenes can be witnessed in the whole of the subcontinent. Even on the day when Kumar Sangakkara played his last Test match in Sri Lanka, you could see rows and rows of empty seats, and even India, where the sport is nothing short of a religion, fails to get full-houses for Tests these days.

    That scenario changes drastically during the One Day Internationals and the Twenty20s. Out of the 20 Indian Premier League matches that were played in the UAE last year, 19 were sold out. So were the Pakistan-Australia ODIs and T20s in Dubai, and the attendance was extremely decent during England’s last trip to the UAE in 2012, but only during the limited over matches.

    In contrast, Test matches remain most popular in countries like England, Australia and South Africa. The Boxing Day match in Melbourne is witness to an attendance in excess of 80,000 each year, while there is hardly a ticket available for Lord’s Test matches in England.

    One of the advantages the cricket clubs in these countries have is the membership structure, which accounts for a majority of the tickets sold.

    It also helps that unlike the UAE, where the weather can be extreme, and the sub-continent, where the facilities for the public can be atrocious; these nations have good systems in place. However, something needs to be done, and now, in the UAE and the rest of the subcontinent.

    Test cricket remains the truest test in the sport, and if the millennials are unable to appreciate its intricacies and intrigues, it is a failure of cricket administration in these countries.

    One of the joys of watching cricket in New Zealand or South Africa is the freedom and the space given to the kids to enjoy themselves. They surely won’t be able to sit still and watch seven hours of action, but if that is interspersed by a game of cricket with other kids, a nice lunch with the family, and possibly a few autographs of their idols and interacting with them when they are fielding at the boundary line, a day at the cricket ground will be something they will look forward to.

    That is not possible in most subcontinent grounds. There is no space for children to run around, and fans are often separated from the players by fences.

    In the case of the UAE, there are various other issues to consider. Most fans here have day-long jobs and can hardly spare time for Test matches.

    Abu Dhabi is slightly more handicapped because of the two uncovered grassy hills at the square. They make for an excellent seating place during day-night matches, but not a single fan had the courage to brave the heat and venture out.

    Promotions by the sponsors and the television channels broadcasting the series are completely lacking in the UAE, although the IPL did a fantastic job of it when they were here in 2014.

    If you want to find excuses, there are hundreds so it is time for all stakeholders to start thinking differently and acting, and that includes the Pakistan and Emirates cricket boards, the sponsors, as well as the team members. Because, all of them stand to lose if Test cricket becomes obsolete.

    There are various ways to make a start, and the first would be to get the kids involved. Try and get schools to send their students, and perhaps organize interactive sessions with a couple of reserve members of the squad.

    The other way could be to establish junior cricket clubs in the three cities and have special tickets for them to attend matches.

    If millennials are hooked on the digital world, social media needs to be used as a marketing tool – something that is completely lacking in this Test series.

    Competitions need to be designed, and if it means giving away a big prize or two like Al Ahli are trying to do this season, so be it.

    The sad truth is, nobody is thinking about the fans right now. And before they stop thinking about Test cricket, a change needs to come over. For the sake of Test cricket they need to be given precedence above everything else.

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