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Former legendary Australia cricketer Steve Waugh has stated his disappointment with the hectic cricketing schedule especially in Australia this year, adding that it has become very hard for a spectator to keep up with the matches and it has reached a point where the interest levels are on the wane.
Cricket Australia (CA) has been heavily criticised for scheduling the matches of the men’s team in the country over the summer months, especially after poor crowds in the 3-0 ODI series over England, which began just three days after Men’s T20 World Cup ended.
In the recently concluded T20 World Cup in Australia too, the average attendance of the crowd was 37,565 across its five Super 12 matches, including the abandoned match against England at the MCG.
Earlier, Cricket Australia CEO Nick Hockley, pointed that the Covid-19 pandemic was a reason behind the packed schedule and the rescheduling of fixtures. However, Waugh has raised his concerns over how it is becoming tough for people to follow the matches.
“There’s a lot of cricket it’s hard to follow, as a spectator its very hard to keep up with it. (The) three one-dayers against England seemed a bit insignificant really, I mean what were they playing for? There wasn’t a big crowd, I think the public has almost overdosed on cricket,” said Waugh on SEN’s Saturday Morning Mowers Club show.
With players starting to choose between playing white or red-ball cricket, Waugh is concerned that cricketers choosing to play in certain formats may lead to more issues for the spectators to follow the Australian team.
“You want the special series to be iconic like the Ashes or against England, it’s hard to follow the Australian side because every time they play they have a different team on the field.
“For the fans and spectators, it is hard to make a connection because you’re not sure who is playing, I don’t know whether it’s anyone’s fault but you need that consistency in the Australian side.
“You want to know who’s in the squad every game, you want to be following it closely and it’s really hard to do that right now,” he added.
Prior to the ODI series against England, Australia had a disappointing campaign at the men’s T20 World Cup where they failed to qualify for the semi-finals following a heavy loss to New Zealand and a washout against the eventual champions England.
According to Waugh, the performance by the defending champions was “a massive shock”, where “no one really stepped up and took the bull by the horns”.
When asked if it is because of the players taking part in different leagues around the world, and playing in different styles under different captains and coaches, Waugh agreed.
“It’s a bit unsettling, with different captains and different styles and, you obviously perform better under some and you think you’ve got better ideas than others and, yeah, it would be hard to be, I guess, the captain of the Australian side,” he said.
“There was pretty much one captain [when he played], and you knew what the style was, and how you’re going to play, and you knew the personalities. Yeah, they are all over the place and [it] probably is a bit unsettling.”
Australia will kick off their Test summer when they host West Indies in the first of a two-match Test series at Perth from Wednesday. The series will be contested for the Frank Worrell Trophy and is part of the ongoing World Test Championship cycle too.
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