{"id":927371,"date":"2026-10-14T03:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-10-14T03:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/927371\/"},"modified":"2026-10-14T03:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-14T03:28:20","slug":"cricket-news-2026-australia-v-south-africa-poor-crowds-in-durban-mark-taylor-exclusive-on-test-future","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/927371\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket news 2026, Australia v South Africa poor crowds in Durban, Mark Taylor exclusive on Test future"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aussie legend Mark Taylor<\/a> hopes the sight of poor crowds in Durban is not a sign of Test cricket<\/a>\u2019s demise in the country.<\/p>\n

Australia beat South Africa by 214 runs in the first of a three-match series<\/a>, that was highly anticipated for several reasons.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The Aussies celebrate a wicket in front of empty Durban stands.\u00a0Getty Images<\/p>\n

Heading into the match, the two teams were ranked No.1 and No.2 on the World Test Championship standings.<\/p>\n

It was the first time they had met in a Test match since last year\u2019s Test Championship final, which the Proteas won at Lord\u2019s.<\/p>\n

The Durban match also marked the first time Australia\u2019s men\u2019s team had played a Test there since the infamous 2018 tour, when the Aussies were caught tampering with the ball.<\/p>\n

Leading up to the series, all the headlines were dominated by Sandpapergate and Aussie players were expected to cop it from raucous South African crowds, like they had eight years earlier.<\/p>\n

But the stands in Durban were close to empty for the entire five days, leading to a rather dull atmosphere despite some thrilling cricket being played.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat to me was one of the big stories that hasn\u2019t been broadcast enough,\u201d former Test captain Taylor told nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll the talk has been about sandpaper, and will the crowd be this, that and the other, the biggest story for me is how do we keep countries like South Africa really interested in Test cricket?<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are world Test champions, but they don\u2019t play much Test cricket, and the crowds are suggesting that they don\u2019t want it, which is a real worry for me for Test cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

In this World Test Championship cycle, South Africa has played just five matches, while every other nation has played more. Australia (11), India (12), England (16), and the West Indies (12) have played the most Test cricket, but the rankings are based on percentage rather than number of wins and losses.<\/p>\n

There was criticism of the system last year when the Proteas qualified for the final despite playing far less Test cricket than other teams.<\/p>\n

South Africa has also been criticised in recent years for sending full-strength teams on tour for white-ball series, while pulling players out of Tests.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

The few fans felt lonely.\u00a0AP Photo\/Themba Hadebe<\/p>\n

The absence of fans may hint at an apathy for the game\u2019s purest format in the country.<\/p>\n

Even the Aussie players were stunned by the empty stands in the first match.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was expecting more of a crowd, if I\u2019m being honest with you,\u201d veteran spin bowler Nathan Lyon said after day three.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you\u2019ve got the Australian cricket team competing against South Africa in South Africa, No.1 and No.2 going at it, I was expecting a bigger crowd, but no, they\u2019ve been pretty quiet to be honest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australian journalists following the tour have offered a number of explanations for the dwindling crowd numbers. There has been civil unrest and protests playing out around Durban, with smoke from fires reportedly seen from the cricket ground throughout the match.<\/p>\n

Durban historically pulls far smaller crowds than other South African cricket venues, and the timing of this series – held in October rather than around Christmas – is another factor.<\/p>\n

The next match is in Gqeberha starting Sunday, and then the Aussies return to Cape Town for the first time since the incendiary 2018 match.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Aussie legend Mark Taylor hopes the sight of poor crowds in Durban is not a sign of Test…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":927372,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-927371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=927371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/927371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/927372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=927371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=927371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=927371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}