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CA to research 'disappointing' crowd

Sutherland promises study to understand why patrons stayed away from MCG

Cricket Australia will conduct its own research into why crowd numbers have been down for the ongoing series of limited-overs matches against South Africa but early indications are it is a symptom of the unusually early start to the international summer.

While attendances at the first three Carlton Mid ODI Series matches between the world's number two and three-ranked one-day teams averaged just over 10,000, CA's Chief Executive Officer James Sutherland conceded that today's afternoon attendance for match four at the MCG was disappointing.

The fact that Australia will host its biggest summer of cricket including the 2015 ICC World Cup in February and March means many fans may be saving their money to attend games later in the season, Sutherland said.

But he added that CA would wait until it had a chance to conduct its own research into why crowd numbers might have failed to reach expectations at a time of year when workers, school children and university students have yet to begin their annual holidays.

"It's not a good crowd and it's not something that we're terribly happy about but we need to understand a little bit more," Sutherland told reporters at the MCG during South Africa's 50-over innings of 8-267.

"It's fine to say that it's an unconventional time of year for us to be playing but at the same time there's a lot more to it and we'll do our own assessments to understand that.

"From time to time, the way the (International Cricket Council's) Future Tours Program works we do need to play cricket at odd times of the year, this being one of them and I would like to think that we can do better.

"But we also know that we've got a huge summer of cricket coming on and we know at the MCG for example we have already literally sold hundreds of thousands of tickets for matches to be played from Boxing Day onwards.

"I guess that's the silver lining to some extent but we would have hoped for a few more here on what appears to be a pretty nice Melbourne day."

The ongoing challenges faced by cricket administrators to attract crowds to Test matches, particularly for 'non-blockbuster series' played outside peak spectator times is a key reason why Sutherland has been a strong supporter of day-night Test matches.

He told cricket.com.au earlier this year that New Zealand's 2015 Test tour of Australia, which is also scheduled to take place in November, had been identified by Cricket Australia as the most likely to host the world's first day-night Test match.

Sutherland believes the day-night format provides greater opportunities for fans to attend matches that are played outside of the traditional Australian Christmas-New Year holiday season.

And while he was reluctant to identify reasons for the lower-than-expected turn out in Melbourne today he indicated that initial feedback discounted ticket prices and "cricket overload" were unlikely to be major reasons.

"Tickets are very reasonably priced (for today's game) at $35 for adults and we've had other special offers but we'll have a look at the whole aspect of it," he said.

"We know that Friday nights, for example, are a big night for kids to be playing cricket so that would have dragged a lot of people away no doubt.

"And I don't think it's an overload issue, but I think people are probably conscious of a lot of cricket to come.

"We've got a Test match not too far away (against India starting December 4), we've got the Big Bash League coming up and I don't want to be caught providing specific reasons without us doing our own research to properly understand that.

"Which we will."

Sutherland also said he had no issue with national selector Mark Waugh appearing on Fox Sports' 'Inside Cricket' television show last night and claiming the selectors would have preferred more time to consider the make-up of Australia's squad for the first Commonwealth Bank Test against India.

Waugh said he thought it would have been better if the National Selection Panel could have viewed the upcoming round of Bupa Sheffield Shield matches that begin on Tuesday rather than being required to decide on the squad this weekend for the opening Test in Brisbane.

He also claimed the requirement to name the squad more than a week before the first Test begins came from Cricket Australia for "marketing" purposes, although it was later clarified that instead of "marketing" Waugh meant to say "logistics".

Sutherland was asked whether he believed it would have been better if the selectors had been able to gauge form in the upcoming round of Shield matches before they finalised the 12-man squad for the first of four Tests against India.

"That depends whether the selectors know where they're up to or not," he said.

"I think the selectors might ideally always want or need more time to be absolutely certain but I'd like to think they're pretty clear on where they're up to.

"We always give them the flexibility of naming a squad of whatever size they might need to make the judgements and be flexible around injury clouds and things like that so I don't think it's a major issue.

"The trade-off is also about making sure we get the players in as a group early enough for the preparation they want for the start of a Test series.

"And that's as much as anything about coaches and captains and others being able to do what they need to do in the days leading into that.

"Traditionally they like to get in (to the city hosting the Test) Sunday for a Thursday game and that's how they like to make it work.

"There was only one word that surprised me (from Waugh's comments) and that was 'marketing' because that's just not right and I think we've corrected that.

"To be honest, a few years ago we did have some discussions or issues around choosing a date to get maximum exposure but I think we've moved well past that and it's certainly not a marketing issue.

"It's all about logistics and getting the right preparation for the squad that's announced."