Cricket Tasmania is set to renew its case to secure a guaranteed international match every summer.
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But chief executive Nick Cummins does not believe upgrades to Bellerive Oval in recent years have been wasted should the state be robbed of an Australian presence.
Dwindling international crowds have contributed to Cricket Australia stripping Hobart’s right to host Test cricket in recent seasons.
Since playing the last of its 13 Test matches in 2016, Tasmania attracted 9958 fans to an Australian T20 against England last February with just 5321 attending the one-dayer against South Africa in November last year.
“Tasmania as a one-in-six owner of Australian cricket, we’re guaranteed international content every year,” Cummins said.
“We’ll be fighting for that and we accept that some games won’t be the best utilisation of Cricket Australia’s resources.
“We certainly don’t accept that having no international cricket is fair either.
“The conversation we’ve had with Cricket Australia is that if we accept our position as the No.6 venue after Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Perth and Brisbane, we’d likely be considered early for the best fixtures for ODIs and T20Is.”
Its case was hurt further after Cummins encouraged fans to attend the recent day-night tour match as a Cricket Australia XI met Sri Lanka.
The fixture was downgraded of first-class status and little more than 2000 spectators turned up to all three days.
“I believe that this was the most meaningful tour match in quite a few years in Australian cricket,” he said.
Cummins already told The Examiner that Tasmania can next expect to host a Test match in the 2023-24 season.
The last two Hobart Tests involving West Indies in 2015 and South Africa 12 months on drew an average crowd of just 5100 and 5500 each for their three days of cricket.
“If you look at the Future Tours program, we’ve not really been given a chance to get a Test match in the next four years,” Cummins said.
“There’s going to be no more than five Test matches in Australia. It’s either us here at Hobart’s Bellerive Oval or Manuka Oval in Canberra that’s regarded as the sixth Test venue, and there aren’t six Tests proposed.
“It’s clearly disappointing for us and our Test cricket loving fans.”
But Cummins said with the increase of Big Bash games, an upgraded Bellerive is being utilised for “more elite content than ever before”.
“I think it’s well and truly justified – it allows us to compete effectively,” he said.
“I believe that if we didn’t have these facilities, we probably wouldn’t even be considered for a tour match.”