How CSA scheduled its biggest Test series in years - and ruined it
Australia’s first Test tour of South Africa since 2018. The reigning world Test champions playing at home for the first time since lifting the mace, against the very team they beat to achieve it. The two best bowling attacks in the world. The final time Smith, Starc, Lyon, Hazlewood and potentially Pat Cummins will play Tests in South Africa. The storylines were there. CSA didn't care.
The series calendar tells a sad tale. The recently completed first Test at Kingsmead ran from Friday 9 October to Tuesday 13 October. The second, at St George’s Park, starts on Sunday 18 October and ends on Thursday 22 October. The third, at Newlands, starts on Tuesday 27 October and finishes on Saturday 31 October.
Here's the problem. The only Test with a full Friday, Saturday, and Sunday was played at the one ground in the country that has proven time and time again that it doesn’t turn up for Test cricket.
Durban got the weekend, and nobody bothered
Kingsmead’s attendance problem is not new, and nobody at CSA should be surprised by how things panned out.
The Boxing Day Test against Pakistan in 2002 averaged around 3,500 spectators a day, at the height of the December holidays.
In 2013, during the final Test of South African icon Jacques Kallis's career, the crowd fell from around 13,500 on day one to about 4,500 on days two and three.
When Australia last toured in 2018, the opening day in Durban fell on a Thursday, and the crowd was poor enough for the question to be asked whether it was Test cricket that was in trouble or just a Durban thing.
Just three weeks before this first Test, the warning signs were flashing again. The first ODI against Australia was played on Heritage Day, a public holiday, and Kingsmead was still mostly empty despite tickets for a family of four costing less than R1,000. The first Test, with its first three days over a weekend, was Durban’s chance to redeem itself.
It didn't happen. Just over 7,000 tickets were sold for day one, and one estimate put the actual crowd closer to 3,800. The stands and grass banks were no fuller on Saturday and Sunday, and even emptier by Monday. Former Proteas spinner Paul Harris summed up the debacle on social media: “Ban cricket in Durban.”
In its defence
In fairness to Durban, the timing was cruel. Petrol and diesel prices rose by more than R3 a litre on Wednesday, 7 October, two days before the Test began, pushing both past R30 a litre for the first time. For those driving from Pietermaritzburg, Ballito or the South Coast, a day at the cricket suddenly costs a lot more before they even reach the ground.
Tickets aren’t outrageously priced (especially when considering the quality of players on display), but once you tally up parking, food and drinks for the day, it looks daunting.
Then there’s safety. With soldiers patrolling the CBD after violent protests a short distance from Kingsmead, plenty of people would have decided to stay home.
Still, none of this explains Durban’s long record of empty stands. Fuel was cheaper, and the streets were quiet when Kallis said goodbye to a near ghost town in 2013.
Gqeberha deserved better
St George’s Park is a different story. It’s South Africa’s oldest international ground, with the brass band and the Orange Army turning it into one of the most atmospheric spots in the country. It’s exactly the kind of crowd that gives a home team a much-needed lift, and it’s being asked to show up for a Test that starts on a Sunday (likely to be rained out as things look now) and then proceeds over four working days.
A Sunday start isn’t total calamity. Day one should draw a crowd, weather depending, with tickets starting from R120. But once Monday arrives, so does work, and the middle days of a Test are often where the contest is decided. Swap Durban’s dates with Gqeberha’s and you could most likely expect those Saturday and Sunday stands to look very different.
Newlands treated poorly
By some distance the country’s strongest Test-going crowd, Newlands drew 85,280 people across five days against England in 2016, with more than 20,000 on each of the first two days. The 2027 New Year’s Test against England was declared sold out for its first four days before tickets even went on public sale (the less said the better).
This time, Newlands gets a Tuesday start. The only weekend day of the match is the Saturday, which is day five, if we get there. The ground that would, in all likelihood, be full on a Saturday and Sunday has been given a run of weekdays and a fifth-day Saturday that might not even happen.
It’s worth adding that this will be the earliest men’s Test ever played at Newlands. The ground has never hosted a Test in October.
CSA can’t afford this
None of this would matter if Cricket South Africa had money to burn. But it doesn’t. CSA posted a loss of R440.6 million for the 2025-26 financial year and another loss is likely coming this season, even with Australia and England touring.
When broadcast income is under pressure, selling tickets matters more. CSA’s own integrated report even lists the promotion and scheduling of Test cricket, along with ticket affordability, among the material matters affecting the organisation. They know what the problem is. The schedule for the biggest series of the year just doesn’t reflect it.
It wasn’t only the dates
To be fair to Durban, this particular Test was marred by outside problems.
The day before the match started, anti-immigration protests in the CBD turned violent, with cars set alight and shops looted. Violence continued on Friday, the KwaZulu-Natal Premier asked for the army, and by Saturday SANDF troops were patrolling the CBD alongside police.
On Saturday evening, the MTN8 final between Pirates and Sundowns was played at Moses Mabhida, just up the road. This fixture saw over 50,000 fans in attendance despite the unrest.
Friday was also a school day, and fans complained about the cost of tickets and transport. CSA’s own report notes that unemployment and the rising cost of living means people's ability to attend matches is limited.
Then there was the light. Play was stopped early for bad light on each of the first three days, with more than 60 overs being lost. With the sun setting around 6pm, officials still chose to stretch the first two sessions rather than start earlier. The average spectator isn't willing to pay for a full day and then only get two-thirds.
What can be done?
A better schedule wouldn’t need a bigger window. Something like this would fit inside the same three weeks:
Durban: Thursday 8 to Monday 12 October. Kingsmead still gets Saturday and Sunday, but day one moves to a more traditional Thursday slot.
Gqeberha: Friday 16 to Tuesday 20 October. A full, atmospheric weekend with the band.
Cape Town: Saturday 24 to Wednesday 28 October. Newlands on a Saturday and Sunday, the best two days of the week for South Africa's best Test crowd.
This would mean one less rest day between Tests, not ideal for fast bowlers in a three-match series. But that’s a far smaller cost than playing a showpiece series in front of empty seats.
Beyond the dates, CSA should look harder at what happens inside the day. Starting earlier in Durban (is 9AM really too early?), or seriously considering day-night Tests where floodlights allow, would claw back some of the overs lost to bad light. Shaun Pollock has already made the case for a pink-ball switch.
CSA has spent heavily on floodlight upgrades ahead of next year’s World Cup, so the infrastructure is there. I personally think that, going forward, Kingsmead should be a day-night Test venue.
The bigger picture
South Africans do turn up for Test cricket when they’re given a reason and a weekend to do it. Newlands proves it every year. St George’s shows up whenever the band plays.
Kingsmead, despite years of chances, has not.
Fixtures are complicated, and touring teams, broadcasters and venue availability all demand different things. But scheduling the only weekend of the series at the ground with the weakest crowds and leaving the strongest ground with weekday morsels is something that easily could have been avoided. With the board getting ready for another loss, CSA need to start getting the simple things right.
Comments