A near-empty Edgbaston to welcome India and England tomorrow?
England's 1000th Test might witness swaths of empty seats greeting them as they face India tomorrow at Edgbaston. County chief executives have blamed the cramped schedule of series for the low ticket sales at the 25,000-seater Edgbaston. The first match begins on a Wednesday. Normally, it is difficult to attract fans for a mid-week match. Here's more on the issue.
Challenge of marketing mid-week matches
Outside London, it is challenging to market tickets of mid-week Test matches. Even though sales of the Ashes tickets, next summer, are expected to be strong, the India series will deliver dismal numbers in terms of match tickets sold. The weekends might see better tickets sale. Warwickshire's CEO, Snowball, said that sales haven't been upto the mark for the first two days only.
Essex County had to refund 2,000 tickets last week
The Essex County, reportedly, had to refund 2,000 tickets last week. This was owing to India cutting short the 4-day match to three, so that they could travel early to Birmingham and prepare in advance for the Test. However, the weather played a spoilsport as rain prevented them from training on Sunday.
Where can you witness the action?
The India-England Test series will be telecast on Sony Six, Sony HD, Sony Ten 1, and Ten 3 in Indian subcontinent. All the Test matches are scheduled to begin from 3:30 PM. The coverage will, however, start from 3 PM. Sony LIV and Jio TV will also be broadcasting the matches.
Adil Rashid named in England squad amidst controversy
The ECB is facing a lot of heat due to its decision to field Adil Rashid in the first Test. Michael Vaughan, former England captain, called the decision ridiculous. Notably, Rashid wanted to pursue only white-ball (ODIs and T20Is) cricket. England XI: Joe Root, James Anderson, Jonny Bairstow, Stuart Broad, Jos Buttler, Alastair Cook, Sam Curran, Keaton Jennings, Dawid Malan, Adil Rashid, Ben Stokes.
