Last Updated on 10 months by Charbel Coorey

Cricket News: Perth crowd for day one of Australia-Pakistan Test: 16,259 | 16,259 fans turn up for the first day of the Pakistan Test at Perth Stadium

16,259 fans entered the gates for day one of the “West Test” between Australia and Pakistan at Perth Stadium. They witnessed a dominant day from World Test Champions Australia, led by David Warner who hit 164 off 211 balls, a satisfying innings in the context of the lead up to the series.

Australia ended the day 346/5, with Alex Carey (14*) and Mitchell Marsh (15*) combining for an unbroken 45-run stand after Pakistan clawed their way back into the contest after a poor first session thanks somewhat to some giveaways from the Australians.

In terms of the crowd, much was made of how many would flock through the gates in mid-December against a team who hasn’t won a Test in Australia since 1995. The re-branded “West Test” came as an attempt to boost crowds in the large 60,000-seat Optus Stadium following the 10,929 who came to see the first day of the Australia-West Indies Test last year.

Crowd of 16,259 for day one of the Perth Test between Australia and Pakistan

Last week, outgoing WA cricket CEO WA Cricket CEO Christina Matthews said she hoped for 25,000 fans on day one of the match. But, where does the crowd of 16,259 sit among other day one turnouts at Perth Stadium?

20,746 attended day one of the Australia-India Test in 2018, followed by 19,084 in 2019 against New Zealand, which was a day/night Test. As mentioned, 10,929 came through the gates for day one of the Windies Test, which puts this attendance against Pakistan at around average.

Interestingly, it is a record attendance for day one of a Perth Test against Pakistan. However, there were debates on social media. Some fans believed there should have been greater numbers given the year the Australian team has had, winning the World Test Championship, retaining the Ashes, and winning the World Cup. Others had the view that it was a decent turnout given work and school is still on, plus Christmas is around the corner.

Skipper Pat Cummins put it well before the match. He said the way Australians consume cricket means that engagement can’t only be measured by ticket sales.

“We’re still on a high from that [the World Cup victory],” said Cummins. “It’s not going to get much better from that. But I’m sure it’s going to be well-supported here. Some of the Test matches you play in Australia, I think school might still be in here, you might not get the packed stadium, but you know there’s going to be millions of people watching.

And it’s kind of the start of their summer, that first Test match. So we feel really supported whenever we play over here and probably after the last 12 months we’ve had, I’ve never felt the support like we have in the last month.”