Australia is the most successful cricket-playing nation in the world. In every format of cricket, they have shown their abilities. They have six ICC Cricket World Cups in showcase and two T20 Cricket World Cups. The International Cricket Council has introduced a new Cricket tournament for test cricket lovers. Australian men’s cricket team has already gained the trophy.
The foundation of Australian Cricket is quite strong compared to other cricket-playing nations in the world. The majority of the schools and colleges have their own cricket team to represent their institute. These institutes are producing a lot of talented cricketers for Australia and for their teams. Since Australia is dominating the cricket world, cricket become the national sport of Australia.
There are many reasons why cricket is the most watched sport in Australia. According to the Sports Industry Australia and VOZ. The constant performance of the Australian men’s and women’s cricket teams is one of the key reasons. Also, the game is one of the cultures of a part of the people of Australia.
However, cricket has faced serious problems in the past when it was the second most popular sport in Australia after the Australian Rules Football League. Also, the National Rugby League and Rugby Union were the 3rd most popular sports in Australia and gained popularity rapidly. This article will develop into the initial challenges of Cricket Australia and how it managed to become the most popular sport in terms of TV audience.
What were the initial challenges for Cricket Australia
Generally speaking, there were several challenges for the Cricket Board Australia. Test cricket or the oldest form of cricket has a significant influence on the Australian people’s lives. However, the shorter format of cricket had killed the longer version of cricket. As a result, the people who loved test cricket have moved away from the game. They were active only during the Ashes series.
Since the number of active cricket followers has dropped, the TV audience of cricket also decreased in Australia. As a result, television broadcast channels such as 7 Sports, Fox Sports Australia, and Kayo Sports lost their interest in broadcasting cricket matches in Australia. In 2016, cricket Australia was about to bankrupt.
The number of crowds for the matches has dropped rapidly. There wasn’t enough attendance for the cricket match. The rival Sports of cricket in Australia have gained their popularity rapidly. Football is one of the sports that historically rivaled cricket. Also, the National Rugby League and Rugby Union also granite huge popularity throughout the country.
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How Cricket Australia solves the problems
Cricket Australia (CA) has taken several steps to overcome the situation. They have collaborated with the England Cricket Board (ECB) to promote the Ashes series throughout the country and the rest of the world. The 2017 Ashes series was one of the most successful tournaments ever in the history of Ashes cricket. Crowds from Australia and England attended the stadium to watch the beauty of this cricket.
The Boxing Day cricket match between Australia and England was sold out and almost 300,000 people attended the match. The pink day test and day-night test have gained widespread fame in Australia and England. The rivalry gets her peak time time. Also, the people of England and Wales watched the sports. The TV audience increased by almost 350% than the previous Ashes series.
Cricket Australia has also introduced a new test series between India and Australia and named it the Border Gavaskar trophy. This series became famous all over the world. Most importantly, the people of Australia love to watch the series. The recent edition of the border Gavaskar trophy has witnessed widespread popularity throughout the world. The record-breaking crowds were attended in the Boxing Day test match. The Sydney Cricket Ground also witnessed record-breaking crowds in the pink day test.
Besides, the Big Bash Cricket League also got widespread popularity throughout Australia. Western Australia’s team Parth Scorchers and Sydney Sixers got huge popularity throughout the country. Besides, regional cricket teams like the Western Australia and Victoria Cricket Club have increased their popularity. People all over the country are attracted to watch the Marsh Cup.
What is the future of Cricket Australia
The popularity of cricket in Australia has grown in recent years. The number of TV audiences also increased. According to the sports industry Australia, ESPN Cricinfo, and VOZ, the popularity of test cricket increased sharply and now cricket is the most watched sport in the country. Broadcasting channels such as 7 Cricket, Fox Cricket Australia, Sky Sports Australia, and Kayo Sports have brought the broadcasting rights of Cricket Australia.
Test match cricket is also growing throughout the country. For example, the recent test series between Australia and India got almost 1 million crowd throughout the series. Per day attendance was around 47,890 and this is the record-breaking crowd for Cricket Australia. The local Australians also watched the game on their TV channels. 7 Cricket and Fox Cricket have secured almost 10 million unique viewers and 2 billion minutes of broadcasting.
Overall, the current situation of Australian Cricket is increasing. Hopefully, in the future, cricket will overtake the Australian Rules Football League in terms of average attendance and TV viewership. For this cricket, Australia needs to make effective decisions and make the matches more accessible to the people. So that they could watch the game very easily. However, during this time, cricket Australia will face several challenges from soccer, AFL, NRL, and Tennis. So Australian Cricket Board should take effective steps to reach the highest position in the country.
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