At a stage where the interest in Test cricket is continuously dipping, Cricket Australia has come up with one of the most unique ways to get fans to the ground.
They have built a 32,000-litre infinity pool deck at the Brisbane Cricket Ground.
Unbelievable! Gone are the days when the pavilion represented the coolest seats in the house, with its plethora of food and drink options and star-gazing opportunities. As soon as the pool deck at the Gabba its debut in the first Test between Australia and Pakistan, it instantly became the coolest seat in world cricket.
"It's a first for cricket, it's a first to have a pool deck at the cricket. It's a real fan-engagement type of idea, to give them something else to come along and enjoy the cricket with," a Cricket Australia spokesman said.
Australia is certainly taking the lead in the shift towards more day-night Test cricket, and the pool is in keeping with that. The men Down Under seem to have realized the need to transition from day Tests to day-night Tests and the need to move from the traditional to the modern.
The key is to constantly keep the spectators engaged, a practice best seen in the NBA and other American Leagues. To pique fan interest for the pool deck, the authorities have made the pool equally accessible to everybody.
"People just wear the best beach attire or swimwear and they will just be chosen at random from among the crowd to come onto the pool deck.”
They will run two sessions a day, where fans, who were chosen by spotters, dressed in beachwear and Hawaiian shirts among the crowd, would get to spend three-and-a-half hours in the pool and deck.
The view from the pool itself is uninterrupted. “No seats below with protruding heads. The orientation is square to the wicket, with the scoreboard looming in the background beyond,” as reported by The Guardian.
The pool is just one of the initiatives that they have taken up for the Brisbane Test. The other is the introduction of a ‘twilight pass’ that allows fans to come in for the last two sessions of the game, at a reduced price.
It is safe to say that the pool at the Gabba will take some beating in the future. For now, it lies unchallenged as the ‘coolest seat in world cricket.’
Brand-new app in a brand-new avatar! Download CricRocket for fast cricket scores, rocket flicks, super notifications and much more! 🚀☄️
