CRICKET: Jon Swift
KRISH MACKERDHUJ and the United Cricket Board (UCB) he=20 heads are faced with a problem shared with the majority=20 of nations in the cricket-playing world.
It is simply this: how to fill the empty stands over=20 five long days of a Test match. “People had become too=20 used to the one-day game and we have to make Test=20 cricket more appealing to them,” is the way Mackerdhuj=20 puts it.
In this he is right. There is no hoopla and hype about=20 the measured pace and mental gymnastics which make up a=20 Test. The mood is more cerebral than the prevailing=20 climate of instant gratification which typifies the=20 one-day hybrid.
In this respect, much can be learnt from Rugby World=20 Cup. On the level of the acceptability of the game, the=20 players and the team itself by the nation in general,=20 the UCB has done a fine job.
But this country’s cricketing pride has still to reach=20 the fever pitch of support which greeted Francois=20 Pienaar and Co. Winning would help. So would the type=20 of “one team, one country” catchphrase which served the=20 rugger buggers so well.
In many respects, it is unfair to equate the two sports=20 at Test level. Rugby has very much the feel — and one=20 would argue the structured timing — of the one-day=20
Mackerdhuj and his chief executive officer, Ali Bacher,=20 have done much to bring innovation into the game on the=20 field. It is time they brought their creative thinking=20 to play off the field. For the one point the UCB seem=20 to have missed is this: cricket provides the core of=20 what they are offering, but the game in itself comes=20 nowhere near fulfilling modern expectations of an=20
Making five days stand out against the pull of any=20 number of other attractions demands the network of=20 “bolt ons” Rugby World Cup achieved. And the UCB is=20 aiming for 350 000 paying customers for the five-test=20 series against England at the turn of the year.
Something special will have to be added to the mix.=20 Perhaps cricket does not naturally lend itself to=20 balloons and banners. But taking a more holistic view=20 of a Test than purely concentrating on the action in=20 the middle is essential.
This does not just mean making sure the people in the=20 corporate suites are happy, or selling off blocks of=20 tickets in the main stand to champagne-and-caviar=20 hospitality tents. This caters solely for the=20
Bacher speaks of “recreating a Test culture” in this=20 country. One would argue that he has to go farther than=20 that. He has to create such a culture virtually from=20 scratch among a sports public fed a steady diet of the=20 highly spiced one-day pap en wors.
It needs the UCB to have a thorough look at things like=20 the numbers of youngsters playing pick-up cricket=20 behind the main stands during play. They are out of=20 sight of the long rooms, but ever present. And to them,=20 the tennis ball and dustbin games are as important as=20 the major match in progress. Harness this without=20 destroying the spontaneity of the kids or taking the=20 fun out of it, and you’re looking at the future.
The runaway success of Bakers mini-cricket spreading=20 the gospel of the game among the young aspirants who=20 measure only as high as a pair of full-size batting=20 pads surely proves that point.
Facilities outside the suites also need to be looked at=20 closely. It is as difficult to find an executive member=20 of any of the cricket bodies involved in a full-scale=20 tour eating one of the boerewors rolls available during=20 a break as it was to bowl Graeme Pollock in full=20
Before the magnificent new Wanderers Stadium took=20 shape, Transvaal dynamo Albie During was quizzed on=20 whether TV monitors would be positioned in areas like=20 bars, toilets and catering points to allow spectators=20 relief without missing the flow of play. It would have=20 greatly alleviated the crush conditions at lunch and=20 tea. During had no ready answer then. There is still=20 none now.
The Wanderers, Kingsmead and Newlands — despite the=20 devastation of the Oaks — are shining examples of what=20 can be done to bring cricket stadiums into line with=20 today’s demands.
But they have only really addressed the bums in seats=20 side of things. Bacher is right saying cricket is a=20 culture rather than a game. And as history would tend=20 to prove, one-dimensional cultures are as doomed as the=20 dodo in the long-term.