Edgbaston to be half empty for India Test
TEST cricket is facing another fierce examination with the revelation that Edgbaston will only be around half full for the first two days of England’s marquee series against India — and other venues are struggling to sell tickets too. Only 15,000 spectators are expected tomorrow for the first day of England’s 1,000th men’s Test with only 13,000 tickets having been sold so far for Thursday’s second day. That will leave a considerable
number of empty seats at the 25,000-capacity Edgbaston for the start of England’s biggest series outside the Ashes. It is a similar story for at least two of the other four venues for a series comprising five Tests in a congested six-week period, with sales for the fourth game at Southampton’s Ageas Bowl currently rated as ‘modest’. Trent Bridge, not helped by a Saturday start to the third Test, might only be half full for the third day and even The Oval, usually guaranteed packed crowds, has currently only sold around 7,000 seats for the fourth day of the final Test, another Monday. Only Lord’s seems guaranteed its usual full houses. The one-day and Twenty20 matches between these sides on this tour were all sell-outs but it does not look at this stage as if the large numbers of India fans at every game so far will be turning out in force for the Tests. Poor attendances might also lend weight to the ECB’s argument for the need to introduce a new white-ball format. They say their muchcriticised ‘Hundred’ proposal is an attempt to attract new fans from the year 2020 at a time when the county Twenty20 Blast competition is enjoying record sales. Tests starting on days other than Thursdays do not help and Test cricket is a costly business in England even if adult tickets at Edgbaston start at £29. Warwickshire chief executive Neil Snowball said: ‘We have been impacted by a Wednesday start and this series throws up a whole debate about regularity of scheduling. Overall we will do about 70,000 ticket sales. It is just days one and two where sales are not what we’d normally expect.’ Meanwhile, Alastair Cook insists Adil Rashid can cope with the pressure of becoming one of the most contentious selections in England’s Test history. National selector Ed Smith incurred the wrath of Yorkshire and a plethora of pundits by picking the leg spinner in a 13-man squad for the first Test even though he refuses to play red-ball cricket for his county. But former captain Cook is backing Rashid to make a success of his call-up if he faces India tomorrow on what yesterday looked a green Edgbaston pitch. ‘In 18 months I think he’s matured as a person and improved as a cricketer since we last saw him in an England Test shirt.’ That last Test appearance was in Cook’s final match as captain in Chennai when, against an attack including England’s two selected spinners for this Test in Rashid and Moeen Ali, India made 759 for seven. But Cook insists Smith has made the right call. ‘I can understand why this has caused a bit of a fuss but these are unusual circumstances which won’t come up again,’ he said.