Banished from the Test arena after just 15,343 attended South Africa's three-day demolition job of Australia in 2016, Bellerive Oval was handed its best summer schedule in years on Wednesday.

In addition to a February ODI against New Zealand, the Hobart ground was awarded the first Test of the summer - Australia's first-ever clash with Afghanistan.

Fears have been raised that another poor crowd could spell the end of Test cricket in Tasmania, especially given the increased competition between venues.

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But Gaggin believes Tasmania's seemingly dwindling cricket crowds are on par with the mainland venues if analysed correctly.

"The point I've made [to Cricket Australia] is, what is a poor attendance?" he said.

"We've only got 230 to 240,000 people in Hobart, so it can't be judged against the attendance in Brisbane or Perth where they have many millions of people.

"So I don't go on crowd figures too much - we look at percentage of the population and we've always had reasonable crowds.

"When you look at how many people there are, you can't expect 15,000 people to turn up every day in a population of 240,000.

"If you put the same metrics on Melbourne or Sydney you'd have 200 or 300,000 people turning up every day."

The Afghanistan Test, slated to begin on November 27, will mark Tim Paine's first time captaining Australia in his home state.

Do you know someone who is contributing to Northern Tasmanian sport, whether through participating or assisting?

The Examiner's Junior Sports Awards, sponsored by Woolworths, provide acknowledgement of accomplishments by players, coaches, volunteers, teams and clubs across the region.

Nominations are open from Wednesday, April 14, and will close at midnight on October 4.

Entries must include a photograph of the entrant.