With the India vs England Test series turning out to be a spicy affair due to various on and off the field controversies, Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg says that these will help pique interest for the upcoming Ashes, set from November this year.
“It’s great, isn’t it? It’s great cricket (India vs England series for Anderson-Tendulkar Trophy) to watch as a fan,” Greenberg told Sydney Morning Herald.
“Everyone will have their opinion when our English friends arrive I’m sure, and we’re looking forward to that very much. I love the way they’re playing their cricket and I can’t wait to see them test themselves on our shores,” he added.
The Ashes 2025-26 between Australia and England will begin in November, and Greenberg is hoping to go past the 837,879 gross fans footfall during the Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25. The BGT was the highest attended Test campaign in Australian history outside of the Ashes and the record stands at 946,750, which was set during the 1936-37 Ashes when Sir Donald Bradman was in his pomp.
“It’s great cricket to watch leading into them coming here on this Ashes trip. It will sell more tickets for us. We like to think that’s talkability,” he said.
The opening day tickets for the five Ashes Tests across Perth, Brisbane, Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney are now sold out, as per CA’s estimate. Meanwhile, ticket allocations for first, second and third days at the Gabba, Adelaide Oval and SCG have also been exhausted.
The England vs India series has been a pretty dramatic one with the 3rd Day of the Lord’s Day really adding to the spice with India captain Shubman Gill’s on-field row with England openers Zak Crawly and Ben Duckett. Gill would reveal later what irked him was England’s time wasting even after coming to bat 90 seconds late to the crease.
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In the last day of the 4th Test, there was also an on-field flare up between England players and Ravindra Jadeja and Washington Sundar who refused Ben Stokes’ proposal to end the match early as it was heading for a draw. Both batters refused the handshake and went on to score their respective centuries.
The bad blood shifted off the field too when India coach Gautam Gambhir getting into an angry exchange with the Oval curator Lee Fortis ahead of the 5th Test.
(With agency inputs)
