Time to Think to Evaluate

No more knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing.
Simon Wilde.

The Times.

Sunday, 29 March 2020.

PTG 3065-15180.

Dear Cricket, You don’t need telling that for many of your devoted fans you are their way of life. In the days before we were instructed to stay home, it was possible to not leave the confines of your sitting room and from early morning watch on TV the end of a match in Australia or the start of another in Asia, go through the afternoon following a game from South Africa, then move into late evening with action from some sunkissed Caribbean island.

We miss you because you give structure to our lives, most hours of the day, most days of the week, every month of the year. Club players have their summers shaped by midweek evenings and weekends playing bat and ball. Professionals trot the globe from January to December. You help us measure out our lives.

But this break is an opportunity you should take to think again about how you run yourself and what you might do to make things better for those whose love you take for granted.  The great irony of this crisis is that it has reminded us all of the pleasure and value of being connected. Yet this is something that you, cricket, have been so poor at: connecting with the people who genuinely support you. It is a long time since you were really that fussed about the fans. But now we know: people matter.

Before I get on to the fans, though, we should speak about the players. You have not been overly concerned about them either. They battle to make their voice heard but how much do you listen as you draw up your ever more packed schedules?

Only someone who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing would ask a team that had just won a World Cup to start a Test match ten days later, and an Ashes series a week after that. And while it sticks in my craw to make allowances for David Warner, the ball-tampering scandal of 2018 was partly born out of an Australian team being on their knees with fatigue.

We have recently seen a number of players manifesting mental health issues, and many others on the brink of emotional disintegration. They are exhausted and may not be as sorry as you think to be given what is likely to be the longest layoff they will experience. For pity’s sake, find it in your heart to arrange a more compassionate program.

Before this, cricket in England was in a good place. Last summer’s drama created a passion that this season would have been well placed to build on. The present delay will only fuel enthusiasm: once cricket resumes, crowds will flock back, as they did for the “Victory Tests” after the Second World War. But how are you going to hang on to them? That could be much harder.

For too long, you have been obsessed with TV and its lucre. You have allowed cricket to become a made-for-TV event. That the England and Wales Cricket Board is exploring as a first step playing behind closed doors to meet broadcast requirements is economically understandable but it feeds the notion that you can manage without the fans but not without TV and sponsorship money (PTG 3063-15170, 27 March 2020).

People matter. Make more effort to get them back into the grounds. Make it an occasion people feel they have to be at. Things are distorted in England because Tests here are well attended, but elsewhere the picture has looked bleak for years.

The root problem is that for fans in the ground the experience is worse than for those watching on TV. Even the Indian Premier League, which often plays to packed houses, is essentially a made-for-TV event, with games dragging beyond four hours because of commercial breaks, which is forcing out a younger audience who have school to attend. Cricket Australia's Big Bash League is not much better.

Games of cricket — even the short ones — last longer than football or rugby so spectator facilities need to be at least as good if not better. But PA announcements are often sporadic and replay screens scarce. With DRS so fundamental, spectators need to be kept informed. American stadiums are light years ahead.  The traditional cricket scoreboard is baffling to newcomers and even to some more familiar with the game. If you want to grow cricket, give the people a chance to understand it. For the most part, all that matters is runs scored/required and balls remaining. Stop the board being a multiplex of meaningless numbers.

Too many of your schemes to revive interest disregard what people actually want. Day-night matches? No thanks. Four-day Tests? Surely 7½-hour days are enough without adding another 30 minutes; throw in commuting time and some spectators will be out from dawn until dusk.

It is a cruel twist that English cricket chose this summer to launch The Hundred. This, too, is clearly another vehicle for TV, though it was also — admirably — intended as a means of connecting with the south Asian community. It would therefore be a most uncomfortable step to stage it behind closed doors should that option be available.

One wonders, too, how English cricket feels about its treatment of traditional fans, those who were told The Hundred was not for them and whose affection for the County Championship was taken as given. Now, the first seven rounds of the championship have been butchered and more cuts may be on their way. Do you still think you can rely on these people?

Cricket, you have taken so much for granted. Now you know that even the little guys count. People matter. Now it’s your job to make them happy.  Yours affectionately, Simon.

Are cricket ticket prices good value for money?


With just 45% of fans approving of prices, could more be done to attract a new audience to the game?

By Jo Harman for Wisden Cricket Monthly

Ticket sales in the UK are booming, with more people than ever before wanting to watch live cricket. In 2019, domestic and international attendances broke three million for the first time since ECB records began – an 18% increase on the previous record year of 2017. And while the World Cup played a huge part in that, the ripple effect was felt throughout the professional game, with the average attendance for T20 Blast group matches up by 15% from 2018 and 47% over the past five years.

And yet figures released by the Cricket Supporters’ Association (CSA) last December revealed that only 45% of the 2,500 fans they surveyed felt that cricket is good value for money compared to watching other live sport. “We all know the pressures people are under with their disposable income, and ticket prices need to be mindful of that,” says CSA chief executive Becky Fairlie-Clarke. “As we look towards the future prosperity of the game, ensuring cricket is as inclusive as possible will be key.”

So how affordable are ticket prices? At domestic level, the cost of membership to watch a county play all three formats across the 2020 season starts as low as £149 (Leicestershire) and peaks at £304 (Sussex). Understandably, non-Test match venues that do not receive regular income from the sale of international tickets but regularly sell out T20 Blast fixtures tend to be at the upper end of that scale.

Attracting a new audience is a primary focus for all counties and the T20 Blast has been an excellent vehicle in doing that, with many clubs offering fantastic value for kids and families in particular. According to Surrey chairman Richard Thompson, 50% of ticket purchasers to Blast games at The Oval last summer were “brand new to cricket”, while the club’s kids-for-a-quid offer continues to be a great success. “It’s been a good marketing mantra for us for years,” says Charlie Hodgson, The Oval’s managing director. “And it’s also just the right thing to do.”

Warwickshire have gone a step further, with free entry for kids across all T20 Blast fixtures at Edgbaston. “It’s expensive to do things with kids these days in the leisure sector so we wanted to make sure we were standing out from the crowd,” says Alex Perkins, Warwickshire’s head of commercial. “We don’t want to just be chasing the pound when actually the lifetime value of a supporter – particularly a young one who is hopefully going to be a Bears fan for life and come to Test matches and all the other matches that we have here – is huge to us as a club. Not just in terms of monetary value, but in terms of growing our fanbase.”

The cost of cricket

The cost of seeing every home matches across all three formats (in some cases a separate pass is needed for the T20 Blast)

County	Price
Sussex	£304 (early bird £280)
Somerset	£279
Essex	£277
Northamptonshire	£265
Kent	£250
Warwickshire	£245 (early bird £220)
Middlesex	£245
Hampshire	£240
Yorkshire	£230
Worcestershire	£225
Gloucestershire	£216
Durham	£210
Surrey	£203
Glamorgan	£200 (early bird £150)
Lancashire	£195
Derbyshire	£189 (early bird £169)
Nottinghamshire	£180
Leicestershire	£149

Edgbaston also offers some of the most attractive ticket prices for international cricket in the UK. The CSA survey revealed that only 50% of fans are prepared to pay more than £50 for an international ticket, with that figure falling to 40% for the 16-24 age bracket. When tickets went on sale last October for this summer’s West Indies Test at Edgbaston, 92% of tickets came in under £50.

“When we tender for international matches that’s done on a five-year cycle,” explains Perkins. “And because as part of the cycle we have an Ashes fixture, where demand is so high, it allows us to then better manage price points in different years. Ultimately, major match income is the biggest source of revenue for many venues and it does put the pressure on, particularly for those who haven’t got a regular supply of fixtures each year. We’ve been lucky enough that we’ve got a really good supply. We have the biggest capacity outside of London so it’s really important for us that we capitalise on the last couple of years and become known as a sell-out venue regardless of the opposition. That’s definitely a consideration for us as well with pricing.”

Trent Bridge also offers prices that, according to the CSA survey, would be accessible for the majority of cricket fans. Nottingham will host a Test against Pakistan and an ODI versus Ireland this summer, with 46 of the 56 adult price points across the two matches coming in at under £50.

As you might expect, the landscape in London is a little different. There are three Tests in the capital this summer – two at Lord’s and one at The Oval – but you won’t be able to get your hands on an adult ticket for days one to three of any of those matches for under £50. Day four prices start at £40 at Lord’s and £45 at The Oval.

In comparison to other major sporting events, these prices are not unreasonable. And with demand at an all-time high – Surrey recently sold more international tickets in a day (around 32,000) than they have ever done before, and that is without the draw of the Ashes this summer – tickets could be priced considerably higher and the capital’s cricket grounds would still sell out.

However, if cricket is really serious about “growing the game” and making its star attractions accessible to new punters, it is concerning that so many existing fans find international ticket prices in London prohibitive. After the success of 2019, there will be no better opportunity to attract and seize hold of new fans and that means ensuring that the game at elite level isn’t restricted to elite customers.