colhint Posted October 10 Share Posted October 10 3 minutes ago, sidcow said: You reckon more people watch 5 day test matches annually than American Football, Ausssie Rules Football, Basketball and Baseball? Yup Here's world atlas take https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-most-popular-sports-in-the-world.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted October 10 VT Supporter Share Posted October 10 (edited) 3 minutes ago, colhint said: Yup Here's world atlas take https://www.worldatlas.com/articles/what-are-the-most-popular-sports-in-the-world.html That is Cricket in total. Not Test Match Cricket. It includes the short form which people most definitely do care about - see the IPL. The OP was talking about 5 day international test match cricket. Edited October 10 by sidcow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Fun Factory Posted October 10 Share Posted October 10 13 minutes ago, sidcow said: Oh come off it. Just look at how packed this stadium is in Pakistan! The whole cricket eco system is rotten, relient on t20 cricket and whatever India says. It is not healthy having only 3 class test sides. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
colhint Posted October 10 Share Posted October 10 Well 1 minute ago, sidcow said: That is Cricket in total. Not Test Match Cricket. It includes the short form which people most definitely do care about - see the IPL. The OP was talking about 5 day international test match cricket. The population of India Pakistan sri Lanka and Bangladesh is about 2.5b It's the national sport in all of them. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted October 10 Moderator Share Posted October 10 It's incredible the effect that confidence and pressure has in sport - and there isn't another sport that demonstrates that more ably than Test Cricket. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted October 10 Moderator Share Posted October 10 12 minutes ago, sidcow said: You reckon more people watch 5 day test matches annually than American Football, Ausssie Rules Football, Basketball and Baseball? I understand your initial point, but Aussie rules? That's below volleyball and table tennis. Australia has a smaller population than Delhi. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted October 10 VT Supporter Share Posted October 10 2 minutes ago, colhint said: Well The population of India Pakistan sri Lanka and Bangladesh is about 2.5b It's the national sport in all of them. Yes I know that. I think you are missing the point. They love the short form of the game, the 20/20 etc. Look at how few of those cricket mad Pakistanis are attending this almost empty stadium. They are not interested in 5 day international test cricket matches. Go to one in England, Australia and to a lesser extent India and the stadiums are full. Hell it's hard to get a ticket to see England play a test in England. But elsewhere in the cricket playing world, they are not interested. The short form is taking over. Also see the attendances as English County games v attendances at 20/20 or The Hundred. It's worlds apart. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sharkyvilla Posted October 10 Share Posted October 10 8 minutes ago, The Fun Factory said: The whole cricket eco system is rotten, relient on t20 cricket and whatever India says. It is not healthy having only 3 class test sides. New Zealand were world Test champions recently, South Africa have generally been strong since counties stopped knicking players as Kolpaks. I'd say it's only the West Indies that have really thrown the towel in, even they pop up with a result now and again against good teams. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted October 10 Moderator Share Posted October 10 50 minutes ago, sidcow said: You reckon more people watch 5 day test matches annually than American Football, Aussie Rules Football, Basketball and Baseball? I was interested after you asked and really surprised at how small the viewing numbers on the NBA are. I guess it's to some extent a social media sport which produces brilliant small highlight packages and that less people watch the whole game - the NBA finals are roughly in line with viewing numbers for the Ashes. Baseball as well has relatively few viewers. The big one you missed and the second most watched sporting event in the world is the Tour De France. Incidentally, on that Aussie rules thing, the most watched sporting event in Australian TV history is football's Women's World Cup semi final. Anyways, the last Ashes saw viewing figures up and the last Test World Championship final had 124 million viewers, it's still a hugely popular sport and ahead of everything on your list with the exception of the Super Bowl which had around 180m global viewers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted October 10 VT Supporter Share Posted October 10 34 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: I understand your initial point, but Aussie rules? That's below volleyball and table tennis. Australia has a smaller population than Delhi. https://ministryofsport.com/afl-and-nrl-break-all-time-attendance-records-in-2024/#:~:text=AFL Attendance,largest attendance%2C with 100%2C013 fans. AFL and NRL Break All-Time Attendance Records in 2024 Quote AFL Attendance The 2024 AFL season saw a total attendance of 8,243,908 for 215 events, averaging 38,344 fans per game. The Brisbane Lions vs Sydney Swans Grand Final at the MCG had the largest attendance, with 100,013 fans. This follows a strong performance in 2023, where the AFL recorded 8,076,630 attendees and an average of 37,741 per game. Quote The impressive attendance figures for both the NRL and AFL in 2024 not only reflect the growing interest in live sports but also highlight the leagues’ efforts to enhance the fan experience. As both codes continue to engage their audiences, maintaining this momentum will be crucial for future growth and sustainability in the face of economic challenges. I very much doubt Test Match Cricket had 8.4m people through the door or an average of 38,344 fans per day. Whilst we are at it Rugby would trump Test Match viewing figures as well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted October 10 Moderator Share Posted October 10 2 minutes ago, sidcow said: https://ministryofsport.com/afl-and-nrl-break-all-time-attendance-records-in-2024/#:~:text=AFL Attendance,largest attendance%2C with 100%2C013 fans. AFL and NRL Break All-Time Attendance Records in 2024 I very much doubt Test Match Cricket had 8.4m people through the door or an average of 38,344 fans per day. Whilst we are at it Rugby would trump Test Match viewing figures as well. The Aussie rules has a TV audience of around 3.4m. It's really well attended, but in TV terms it's a tiny sport. The opening game of the Rugby World Cup had viewing figures of 3.5m, so trumps the Aussie rules, but is short of the 17.8m that watched the Ashes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sidcow Posted October 10 VT Supporter Share Posted October 10 3 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: I was interested after you asked and really surprised at how small the viewing numbers on the NBA are. I guess it's to some extent a social media sport which produces brilliant small highlight packages and that less people watch the whole game - the NBA finals are roughly in line with viewing numbers for the Ashes. Baseball as well has relatively few viewers. The big one you missed and the second most watched sporting event in the world is the Tour De France. Incidentally, on that Aussie rules thing, the most watched sporting event in Australian TV history is football's Women's World Cup semi final. Anyways, the last Ashes saw viewing figures up and the last Test World Championship final had 124 million viewers, it's still a hugely popular sport and ahead of everything on your list with the exception of the Super Bowl which had around 180m global viewers. Again, that is England and Australia. The OP was talking about outside of those nations. I'm amazed at the baseball. Each team plays about 300 games a year in 30,000 + stadiums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted October 10 Moderator Share Posted October 10 1 minute ago, sidcow said: Again, that is England and Australia. The OP was talking about outside of those nations. I'm amazed at the baseball. Each team plays about 300 games a year in 30,000 + stadiums. Those are global numbers - the Super Bowl around 180m viewers, the Ashes around 17.8m, the NBA final around the same number, baseball less than that and the Aussie rules final at about 3.4m. It's probably fairer to compare Test Cricket to Test cricket and the numbers on viewership are up, it's thriving - it's just not thriving when you put it next to the massive growth in the popularity of one day cricket. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rjw63 Posted October 10 Share Posted October 10 And while you lot are all arguing about cricket popularity, England just need four wickets tomorrow for a memorable victory! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted October 10 Moderator Share Posted October 10 1 hour ago, sidcow said: Look at how few of those cricket mad Pakistanis are attending this almost empty stadium. They are not interested in 5 day international test cricket matches. Go to one in England, Australia and to a lesser extent India and the stadiums are full Partly right, I think. But neither India nor Australia fill stadiums for most test matches. Far from it. I’ve been to non ashes test matches in Aus and (albeit the grounds are mostly huge) the crowds are small. Ashes games, they’re packed see if you can tell which is v India, which v Windies and which is v England Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OutByEaster? Posted October 10 Moderator Share Posted October 10 Australia really does have fantastic cricket grounds. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
veloman Posted October 10 Share Posted October 10 Good to see the great Jeetan Patel getting some credit. Warks have never replaced him in either class or performances (IMO). 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blandy Posted October 10 Moderator Share Posted October 10 26 minutes ago, OutByEaster? said: Australia really does have fantastic cricket grounds. I haven’t been to the Gabba, but of the others only the SCG and the WACA and the old Adelaide oval are really “cricket”grounds. The Optus and the MCG are fantastic stadia, but are generic multi sports venues and the Adelaide oval (now) kind of is too, but it’s still lovely. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lapal_fan Posted October 10 Share Posted October 10 3 hours ago, veloman said: Good to see the great Jeetan Patel getting some credit. Warks have never replaced him in either class or performances (IMO). Loved watching Jeetan, what a legend for the Bears! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rodders Posted October 11 Share Posted October 11 An innings victory with Leach wraps it all up with the wickets today. After the first innings that's pretty impressive. Same venue next week so hopefully another pitch is a bit more bowler friendly Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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