Australia’s Twenty20 Big Bash League has "finally hit the big time, with enormous crowds, quality cricket and a dash of controversy putting it firmly in the public eye" -- threatening the traditional Test format, according to the AFP. Midway through the fifth season of the five-week domestic tournament, "interest has never been greater," with 80,883 people packing the Melbourne Cricket Ground for a recent match. A Sydney derby this weekend is also "expected to be a heaving 42,000 sell-out." This "contrasts sharply with waning interest in Test cricket," as seen in Australia’s recent series against the West Indies. Even the flagship first day of the Boxing Day Test, "also at the cavernous Melbourne Cricket Ground, could only attract some 53,000." Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said, "When you get 80,000 at the Big Bash at the MCG and it's more than you've had on day one at the Boxing Day Test, you can see people saying, 'Well, which way is this going? Are the scales tipping?'" According to Sutherland, it "will be a different scenario when stronger Test teams are in town." He said, "In two years' time when the next Ashes series (against England) comes around, people will understand the Big Bash is complementing and living in a symbiotic relationship with international cricket." Federation of Int'l Cricketers' Association CEO Tony Irish "is less sure." Irish said, "ICC [Int'l Cricket Council] events are strong because they have context... but bilateral cricket is struggling. Players are starting to turn away from the game because they have an alternative market now" (AFP, 1/13).
