If you watch live cricket as a spectator, what do you watch?

First Class/Shield?

Tests?

ODI?

BBL or domestic 20/20?

20/20 Internationals?

Domestic One Day?

Grade cricket?

I used to make the effort to travel to the SCG to watch ODIs and the odd Test. These days I prefer the shorter hop to watch a rep match such as a CAX1 v whoever. or the odd suburban based Blues match. I have to say DC I wish I was in your shoes as I far prefer to watch pure cricket live. A telecast lacks the atmosphere.

It really does make a difference attending the games live . I'm 8 mins walk away from Bellerive Oval too.

Plus attending games live as a member, is  a very social activity.

I now meet up with other TCA members outside live cricket and attend parties, dinner parties, go to craft breweries and attend  live music venues with them.

My mates who encouraged me to join 8 years ago have nearly all given up their TCA memberships.

So being a TCA member offers you a social life as well. Lucky man. 

I don't go to big televised games live. Love my AC, big screen tele, live pause and fridge.

If Auckland move their base to Colin Maiden just up the road from me, I'd go watch a day of FC cricket every now and then happily. But right now - they're on the wrong side of town for me.

I have a really good social life anyway, but being a TCA member has augmented it!

Quite a few TCA members join other social functions I attend, organise or hold.

The live experience is so much better than the TV.

Having said that, the TCA members outside viewing stand is excellent at Bellerive. We are almost behind the bowler's arm and elevated.

The worst thing is that it cops a cool sea breeze outside and it is in the shade. it can be a little cool. Inside at the TCA members it is very comfortable, but we cannot hear the outside noises like willow hitting ball, appeals, snicks and clapping.

We used to be able to use the Southern Stand, which cops all day sun and is sheltered from the sea breeze. Tas Cricket has closed the Southern Stand at Shield games to save costs  - unfortunately.

I'm sure the live experience is much better, especially with the access to facilities you have at your members, but the cost is prohibitive for me. Taxi's to the other side of town, or a nightmare of various public transport services, inflated ticket prices especially to get access to a member's room, coupled with exorbitant food and beverage prices, just counts me out. 

Just a few games at that expense is a week long pacific island holiday. Cricket is a much longer duration that rugby or football as well, this leaves one at the mercy of the stadium prices.

Personally, the "forum experience" of watching live games at home by myself is a pleasant enough experience, arguing or laughing with people online, all at far less cost and inconvenience. And in some ways better than going to a stadium where if there is a crowd - I may or may not get a seat with decent sight of the jumbo tv screen, and if there is no crowd, I'm suffering all that expense for no atmosphere.

Auckland has a dire problem with its stadium location and prices. The attendances for everything bar the big All Black's tests are dismal. There is no easy fix as our city is so wide, and our public transport is very very ordinary, and big stadium catering are not getting the crowds consistently so they look to cash in whenever there is an in demand item being played. 

Hence more and more cricket in NZ is being played outside of Auckland, at smaller towns, at ovals that contain 6,500 to 10,000 max capacity. 

NZ has a problem now whereby Wellington Stadium, Basin Reserve, (Wngtn), McLean Park (Napier), Bay Oval (Mount Maunganui), Hamilton, Hagley Oval (Chch) and University Oval (Dunedin) are all competing with Eden Park for games and there isn't the population to keep costs down. Then Queenstown and Nelson also occasionally get games. Eden Park is running at a massive loss, and isn't ideal for cricket anyway. All the mayors petition NZC for games, and it leaves Eden Park on the outer, and an appalling sight for empty crowds at a test match. It is effectively banned from holding tests that arent India, Aus or Eng.

The only cricket stadium that is really set up well I imagine is Wellington Stadium who have the Soccer Phoenix, Super Rugby support, central city location and much more going for it given it is actually an oval at least with decent 80x60 boundary sizes.

NZC and the Auckland Council know cricket is a dire problem for Auckland, but the latest proposed solution, would still see the Cricket on the wrong side of town for me. And I would still not be interested. With the days of terraced seating, bringing a chilly bin, and better views than grainy tv coverage well behind us, I think it is time to accept that outside of T20, cricket is not much of a spectator sport except for those who have access to the better facilities. I think England was ahead of the curve here, hence despite their larger population, a ground like Lords still only has 26k capacity.

I follow all formats of cricket, but love to watch 20/20 Internationals and t20 leagues especially Big Bash League and Pakistan Super League.

Live?

You might have to move!

Get your priorities right!

Tas Crick Assoc Membership costs me  $300 per year.

It is my annual birthday present from my wife!

It is interesting how it has evolved. The two good mates who persuaded me to join and acted as member advocates for my membership application, with wives being associate members too, have all relinquished their memberships, apart from one.

He now basically only watches  BBL, so we don't watch games together much.

On the other hand I've made friends with a lot of long form cricket tragics. At Shield games there are often only 50 -150 spectators in the members' area , so we see other pretty regularly. 

Outside cricket, nearly all friends who liked cricket in the past, seem to have lost interest. Others have sadly passed away.

I have been to quite a few live Test matches/ODIs over the years. But my last excursion to our iconic SCG was probably the last for myself and my brother. Firstly the parking there is atrocious. There is no modern parking (unless you are a member) only a grass carpark. The cricket itself was great with Matty Renshaw scoring his first brilliant century.. the rest was close to a  nitemare.. or should I say daymare.  We made the effort to book undercover seating but found when we arrived we were in fact not undercover  but out in the baking 30+%C sun instead. We must have used the best part of a tube of sun block that day. My brother has a crook back as I do and I can tell you sitting on those plastic seats for 7 hours is murder. When we took a break and went into a room that had a big screen installed.. think this was for the peasants who were paying $30 a ticket.. we copped filthy floors and tables and so much noise from the drunken revelry.. mostly by the Richies who had invaded the place for probably the same reason we had.  As we had parked opposite the stadium on grass with just about everyone else and their dog it took us almost two hours to get out of the place as they only had the one manned exit point. That was dumb. knowing what a large crowd they would get with it being a Test match.  Finally we exited and my brother.. the designated driver.. was seething. He said "never again unless they build a decent underground carpark" .So that was my last  live game at the SCG. Not an altogether enriching experience. 

Yeah, at these big stadiums, if you're not in the big money areas (corp boxes, serviced areas with comfortable seating), it's all too often not a pleasant experience. Crowd atmosphere is great and all, but is it worth the expense, drama and hassle?

Rugby, Football, Rugby League and AFl are very different to cricket in terms of the ball size for one one, less detail is missed for those sports than cricket at the stadium...