Melbourne: Australian state cricket associations have incurred nearly 150,000 dollars in losses due to the spate of early Test finishes following Team India’s ‘horror-show’ Down Under.
Cricket New South Wales (CNSW) is gearing to cope with a shortage of at least 100,000 dollars revenue due to a low turnout recorded on the fourth day of Test, despite the second Test being the Sydney Cricket Ground`s 100th Test and the fans awaiting masterblaster Sachin Tendulkar’s 100th international ton.
CNSW had hoped at least 25,000 fans to show up for the Test but felt short of the target by 8000 people due to the lack of walk-up sales.
``[The] first three days were on budget but day four didn`t meet budget. We`ll probably be short by a six-figure sum. We`re still waiting for costs from Tests to be calculated but day four certainly hurt us,`` The Sydney Morning Herald quoted CNSW boss David Gilbert, as saying.
Gilbert said the chance to see Tendulkar’s innings might have offset the lack of suspense over the result of the match, which was a foregone conclusion after captain Michael Clarke scored a record-breaking 329 not out.
``Whether or not people knew what the result would be and they thought against turning up I`m not sure,`` Gilbert added.
But Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) is expecting to face only a ``very marginal`` deficit due to high ticket sales recorded over the first three days of the match
``Ticket sales for the fourth day were pretty soft, being a work day, and we had almost capacity on the three days. We`d estimate it to be about $50,000 in [lost] revenue, WACA boss Graeme Wood said.
ANI
First Published: Saturday, January 28, 2012, 13:04