Originally Posted by
Sheikh
The first picture in that article, showing poor crowds at Perth also show that the scoreboard reads that Pakistan needs 364 runs, or Australia 2 wickets, to win. So that's after tea on Day 4 on Sunday when the outcome is a foregone conclusion. And the photo shows the stand square of the wicket and in the full blazing sun. Why would anyone sit there? If you look where there's shade, and end-on to the wicket, there's quite a few people.
But Melbourne got ~60,000 for Day 1 of the Boxing Day test. That's a comparable crowd, given the size of the two states, and we got a test starting in the middle of the week on the last day of school (for state schools). Melbourne's test started on a public holiday.
The problem is, however, that we are going to *have* to play any tests we get at Optus, because the redevelopment of the WACA is going to reduce the capacity to ~10,000. That's too small for any test (or BBL) game, but still plenty large enough for the state games. And while you could, technically, play on any other oval used for WAFL, the wicket won't be good enough for international cricket, nor are the facilities designed for the crowds. WA's got local grounds, then the WACA (10,000), NIB (20,500) and then Optus (60,000); there's nothing in between.