Crowd interest on decline in ongoing T20 World Cup: Jones
Submitted by Rajiv Dhoot on Sat, 10/06/2012 - 07:52.
Colombo, Oct 6 : Former Australian cricketer Dean Jones has said too much Twenty20 cricket around the globe is resulting in crowd interest declining in the ongoing World Cup in Sri Lanka.
Jones said that no one in Australia is really worried about who wins the ICC World Twenty20 final tomorrow.
He said: "The footy and Bathurst have easily won that battle. My family and friends are still talking about the close finish of the Ryder Cup and yet not a word about Australia''s performance in Sri Lanka.
"It started to make me think. Has the T20 revolution burst its bubble? Watching the World T20, I noticed the stands were empty in Sri Lanka at first, but the crowds seemed to grow as we got deeper into the tournament."
"The interest wasn''t there in the Sri Lanka Premier League a month before, and it seems to have carried on into this tournament," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Jones, as saying.
"So why is this event not getting the public attention it deserves? Was it the constant rain, the ridiculous scheduling of poor matches or was it the rubbish Duckworth-Lewis system ruining the games?" he asked.
Since the first IPL, every country has been trying to organise its own domestic T20 tournament.
There are 15 T20 tournaments played throughout the world each year - like the Big Bash League, Sri Lanka Premier League, Bangladesh Premier League and so on.
The initial interest from the fans for the Sri Lankan and Bangladesh leagues was poor and grew as the tournaments progressed. And this response has put the brakes on the upcoming Pakistan Premier League, Arabian Cricket League and a proposed US T20 League - which were scheduled for the next seven months. (ANI)
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