Edgbaston sell-out will not offset Test losses

By Paul Bolton, County News Correspondent

Warwickshire do not expect Wednesday’s one-day international between England and Australia at Edgbaston to make a dent in the hefty losses they suffered during last month’s West Indies Test - even though the match is likely to be a 25,000 sell-out.

Only a handful of full price tickets remain available and Warwickshire put restricted view tickets priced at £40 on sale over the weekend. But they had already budgeted for a sell-out crowd for the visit of the Australians and also for a busy day in the bars and catering outlets at Edgbaston.

“We had already budgeted for this game to be pretty full so the opportunities for us to make significant inroads into what we lost during the Test will be limited,” said Warwickshire chief executive Colin Povey.

Instead Warwickshire will look to the Twenty20 international against South Africa on September 12 to claw back some of the money they lost from three washed-out days, including the first two, of the England v West Indies Test.

“We were cautious in our budgeting for the Twenty20 international and also in our ticket pricing so hopefully we can claw something back on that,” Povey said.

Warwickshire have yet to reveal exactly how much they lost on the Test match but they were between £300,000 and £400,000 down on budgeted ticket sales and their catering and bar revenue suffered during the grim weather.

Moreover, Warwickshire suffered a further setback last month when their Friends Life t20 home match against Worcestershire was washed out without a ball being bowled.

That match was expected to attract a sell-out crowd – although all the tickets had been distributed free through a sponsorship promotion – but only around 5,000 spectators were in the ground when the match was abandoned.

Edgbaston’s playing area was under water again last Thursday when violent thunderstorms hit Birmingham and submerged the outfield.

Warwickshire all-rounder Neil Carter was filmed aqua-planing across the flooded turf in his trunks before the heaviest rain fell but the water drained away quickly once the storm had passed through.


Date: 02/07/2012 11:41:46 by Paul Bolton
In: Warwickshire | Today | England |