Kent chief executive Jamie Clifford refuses to panic despite disappointing Twenty20 crowd
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by Alex Hoad
Kent chief executive Jamie Clifford has refused to panic,
despite a ‘disappointing’ crowd of just 3,000 for the first
Twenty20 game of the season at Canterbury last Friday.
Many fans felt ticket price hikes to pay-on-the-day £25 impacted
the attendance at the St Lawrence Ground for the six-wicket defeat
to Middlesex in the Friends Provident t20 clash.
However, Clifford (pictured) says it is too early to say
whether ticket prices affected the attendance and claimed the poor
weather in the build-up to the match and the start of the football
World Cup had contributed to a crowd which was almost half that of
the 6,000 believed to be at the Nevill Ground in Tunbridge Wells
for the opening home game two days earlier.
Mr Clifford said: "We are only two games into an eight-game home
series and the first game went brilliantly and was essentially a
sell-out.
"The thing with the Middlesex game was that the weather had been
miserable. I think it was raining from 10pm the previous night
until midday on the Friday.
"I must say we feared the worst, what with the World Cup
starting and the iffy weather. We could see the crowd being
down."
He added: "There has been lots of Twenty20 cricket doing the
rounds too, games around the country and on television.
"It’s too early to see a trend but I think Twenty20 crowds will
be down countrywide this year."
He admitted he was disappointed with the Canterbury crowd but
added: "That is more because we have become used to having big
crowds over the past few years." Asked whether the club would
consider any measures to reduce ticket prices ahead of the next
game at Canterbury, Mr Clifford added: "We won’t panic and rush
into doing anything. We will look at things on a game by game
basis."
Admisssion to t20 game against Essex at The Oval next month
will be less expensive than those at the St Lawrence Ground.
Tickets cost £20 for adults and £10 for children.
Do you think ticket prices are to blame for the low
turnout? What should the club do. Have your say below.
Thursday, June 17 2010
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