Australia v South Africa T20Is: A series that struggled for significance

Australia's not out pair Cameron White (L) and Pat Cummins celebrate victory against South Africa in the 3rd and final T20 cricket match played at the ANZ Stadium in Sydney on November 9, 2014. Australia won the series by 2-1 against South Africa.

Both Aussie Camerons, Boyce and White, scampered through for a single off the fifth ball of the 20th over of the Australian innings, signalling a series victory for Australia. The Aussies have had a disastrous couple of results in the United Arab Emirates – albeit with a completely different team in a different format, and the series victory, no doubt, would have done a world of good to the confidence of the squad as well as the Australian cricket loving public.

That final single hit by White also signalled the end of T20 internationals for.this summer in Australia, a summer that’s barely begun.

A Twenty20 series rarely has much relevance, or context in the international calendar, with a three-game series usually reserved for match practice in World T20 years. And this series lacked any relevance whatsoever.

Cricket Australia have generally scheduled T20Is after the completion of a Test series and preceding the ODI series as a curtain raiser, or at the end of the summer. This way, T20Is served a purpose as an avenue for players who performed well in the Big Bash League (BBL) to stake their claim in the national set-up. But not this time.

Record lowest attendance figure for T20Is

The concluded three-match series not only failed to capture the interest of Australia’s cricket going public, with paltry crowds at each of the games and the decider in Sydney being the lowest attendance figure for T20Is at ANZ Stadium, but also failed to excite the Australian and South African teams – who played squads well below their full strength XIs.

Australia can use the tight scheduling between the recently concluded tour of the UAE and the beginning of South Africa’s limited overs tour to Australia as a reason for picking fresh faces to take on the Proteas. The Proteas, however, admitted to resting some of their bigger names ahead of the five-match ODI series, which has more significance as their last hit out in Australia in the 50-over format with less than 100 days to go to the Cricket World Cup.

With the World Cup in the backdrop, the tight scheduling between home and away tours and the BBL still a few weeks away from beginning, Cricket Australia may have been excused for not hosting any T20 internationals across this summer. It would have actually made plenty of sense, with already a plethora of cricket being on offer to the Australian public. However, the made-for-TV series was still played and was possibly a disservice to cricket in the country in one of its most important seasons in the sport’s history.

No more hit and giggle

Other nations have, in the lead up to next year’s World Cup, decided to skip T20Is. In Sri Lanka’s ongoing inpromptu tour of India, the Sri Lankan Cricket Board (SLC) requested the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) to keep the tour as a five-match ODI series, and their upcoming tour to New Zealand involves seven ODIs, instead of the usual five 50-over games and a couple of T20Is. The BCCI has also refused to engage oppositions in more than a one-off T20I during a tour, albeit to safeguard their financial interests, rather than add relevance to the games.

Cricket does not have a monopoly on the summer in the Australian sporting landscape any more and will suffer from lower crowd figures if a series does not have any context or significance. With the A-League growing by leaps and bounds and also the Four Nations Rugby League tournament being staged at the same time in Australia, the consumer has many options out there at the moment.

Twenty20 cricket needs to find meaning once more – no longer just a hit and giggle, it still is a world away from the large following Test cricket has in this part of the world. One can only hope that the return of World Cup cricket to Australia/New Zealand after 23 years will, at least, give the upcoming five-match ODI series enough significance for crowds to come out to.

Near empty stadiums in Australia? It’s just not cricket.