Slow start to ticket sales as Sri Lanka, SA square up

The world’s highest-ranked cricketers will come face to face when South Africa’s spearhead Dale Steyn runs in to bowl to star Sri Lankan Kumar Sangakkara in the first Test at Centurion, which starts next Thursday.

However, public interest in cricket would appear to have dipped since the Proteas hosted Australia in a thrilling drawn series last month.

The ongoing bonus scandal at Cricket SA, which has seen a high-profile airing of dirty laundry at hearings into the saga conducted by Judge Chris Nicholson, could also be keeping fans from the ticket booth.

Those factors could conspire to deny the Sri Lanka series — three Tests and five one-day internationals — the attention it needs.

“Ticket sales have been slow, but we’re hopeful they will pick up as the match approaches,” Elise Lombard, CE of the Titans, said from Centurion on Thursday.

Steyn tops the pecking order among Test match bowlers, while Sangakkara is the game’s leading batsman. Their duel within the greater scheme of the series — and how that tussle influences both teams’ performance — should make for riveting watching.

There could be more where that came from, what with Jacques Kallis, Hashim Amla and Graeme Smith also featuring among the top 10 batsmen, at numbers two, five and 10 respectively, and Morne Morkel holding down third place on the bowling list.

Sri Lanka’s only other representative in either top 10 is slow left-armer Rangana Herath, who sneaks in at number 10 on the bowlers’ ladder.

Those factors illustrate why the series should not be relegated to the status of an afterthought in the wake of Australia’s visit.

Sri Lanka last played Tests in South Africa nine years ago and will not be back for the next five years.

The only survivors from the 2002 series are Sangakkara, batsman Mahela Jayawardene and seamer Dilhara Fernando on the Sri Lankan side and, among the South Africans, wicketkeeper-batsman Mark Boucher, all-rounder Kallis and batsman Ashwell Prince.

As their ages range from 34 to 36, it is fair to assume they will play their last Tests against each other in South Africa in the space of the next month.

But, for former Proteas batsman Boeta Dippenaar, the reason for the public apathy was clear. “People don’t want to see one-sided matches,” Dippenaar said. (www.businessday.co.sa)