Almost a month ago, on October 23, when India and Pakistan met at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for their Super 12 match in the T20 World Cup 2022 tournament, a little over 90,000 fans attended the game. 80,462 fans attended the final of the tournament between England and Pakistan at the same venue on November 13.
Compared to those above events and the capacity of the MCG, at the same ground, a paltry size of 10,406 fans turned up to watch the England-Australia dead rubber 3rd ODI on Tuesday.
It was quite a shambolic image and an embarrassing one for Cricket Australia that most of the ground was empty with fans scattered around the vacant seats. The pictures of all went viral on the internet.
In fact, this turnout of just 10,406 crowd for the 150th ODI at the MCG, was the lowest ever attendance for an ODI at the MCG, beating the previous low of 12,077 from a match in 1979, also against England.
Harsha Bhogle reflects on the message for the boards to learn from this low crowd turnout
Renowned commentator Harsha Bhogle, who is a highly followed and respected figure, quote-tweeted a picture shared by journalist Tim Wigmore, who showed the vast areas of empty stands at the MCG today.
“Wow! A picture speaks a thousand words,” Bhogle wrote in his tweet.
Here, check out Harsha Bhogle’s tweet that has gone viral:
Wow! A picture speaks a thousand words. https://t.co/hYlLI00u4D
— Harsha Bhogle (@bhogleharsha) November 22, 2022
This low attendance is a result of too much cricket and even the expense of tickets for entire families, plus a non-holiday. Just a few days after England won the T20 World Cup, they were playing Australia in a meaningless bilateral ODI series organized to please the broadcasters.
With the BBL coming up, plus an Australian home Test summer, hosting 5 Tests vs South Africa and West Indies – MCG will host the Boxing Day Test vs South Africa – it is not surprising that there was such a low crowd attendance today.
Nonetheless, Australia thrashed England by a record 221-run margin and sealed the series 3-0.
