ACT Chief Minister Andrew Barr has questioned Cricket Australia about its promotion of the Prime Minister's XI fixture after a drastic downturn resulted in a record-low crowd.
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Barr says a lack of promotion is the biggest problem amidst a myriad of issues which contributed to the paltry crowd of 1824 for the Prime Minister's XI's upset of South Africa at Manuka Oval last week.
Cricket Australia seized control of the fixture from Cricket ACT and Barr suggests the governing body left a lot to be desired when it came to advertising a clash featuring an international powerhouse.
The fixture is struggling to find a meaningful place on the cricket calendar and it has been swallowed by Canberra's biggest summer in history featuring men's and women's internationals, Big Bash League matches, Sheffield Shield and WNCL.
"Cricket Australia have taken over the management and operation of [the Prime Minister's XI] game. I have gently raised with them the promotion of the event in Canberra by Cricket Australia perhaps wasn’t as strong as Cricket ACT’s promotion used to be, to be diplomatic," Barr said.
"We’ll work with Cricket ACT and Cricket Australia on how we can better support the promotion of that event. To be fair, clearly it’s a very crowded, it’s the biggest summer of cricket Canberra has ever experienced.
"I can understand, given this game was a weekday, not the school holidays, wasn’t as well promoted as some of the other fixtures for the summer.
"People have different views on the popularity of the two formats but it would seem Twenty20 is more strongly supported. The other factors, the game used to be Cricket ACT’s major event each year and there wasn’t a lot of other top quality cricket on offer."
Following a bizarre quip about Prime Minister Scott Morrison skolling a beer in the crowd, Barr shut down claims a lack of suitable parking options around the venue contributed to the poor crowd given the Greater Western Sydney Giants have no issues drawing a bumper crowd whenever they come to the capital.
The minister added parking at the Manuka Oval precinct will always be limited given it is not feasible to build structured car parks in that location.
One thing Barr does want to do at Manuka Oval is improve the amount of shaded areas at Manuka Oval with undercover seating options at a premium, which can make it an uneasy venue during cricket season.
"Longer-term that means looking at the eastern side of the venue where the temporary seating is, but in the short-term, it means a focus is on the existing seating at the northern and southern ends that don’t currently have shade," Barr said.
It comes as the venue's media centre nears completion despite a concrete panel shortage which threatened to delay the project.
The media centre is a necessity for Canberra to host a Test match and it could tip the scales in the ACT government's favour as the territory hunts for a new deal with Cricket Australia.
The Test between Australia and Sri Lanka is the final game in a four-year deal between the government and Cricket Australia to host international cricket at Manuka Oval.
