Thaindian News

Cardiff, May 27 (IANS) With cricket fans staying away from first Test between England and Sri Lanka, Glamorgan are fearing losses of more than one million pounds.

The Daily Telegraph reported that only around 7,000 spectators filled the Swalec Stadium Thursday, a lower crowd than expected after 9,226 tickets were sold in the run-up to the match.

Paul Russell, the Glamorgan chairman, admitted that the club paid more than two million pounds in 2008 to the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) to stage this Test, which was first in England after the national team won the Ashes Down Under.

The ECB has acted swiftly to look into the real cause behind the thin crowd around the county grounds by appointing former chairman David Morgan to head an in-depth review of the business of domestic cricket.

The ECB has also changed the bidding process for awarding Test matches, to ensure that clubs like Glamorgan don’t incur such losses again.

Glamorgan, however, are still in a fortunate position of having a one-day international against India later this summer to make up the deficit.

Next year, Cardiff will again host a Test against the West Indies which cost Glamorgan less than 25 percent of what they paid for the match against Sri Lanka. But the challenge of selling tickets for a series involving a modest opposition like the West Indians remains a tricky proposition.