I think the scheduling really screws the crowd numbers for the Gabba test. It isn’t school holidays yet and most people are at work. There should be a decent turnout tommorow. If this was a day nighter the crowd would be much better.
When it was a day/night test last time Pakistan were in Australia in 2016, the first 3 days had crowds of 26353, 23344 and 20915 respectively. All 20k+, and the total test aggregate of 78k across the 5 days remains the highest Gabba test aggregate attendance for a non-Ashes test. Thankfully the colour pattern of the seats at the Gabba camouflages the lack of people there to an extent. If they were playing at a venue like Westpac Stadium in Wellington, those yellow seats really stand out. In fact, any stadium with all seats the same colour stands out like a wart on the end of a nose when the attendance is poor.
I'm all for day/night tests if it means getting more people through the gates, and it's good to see that India have finally started to evolve and embrace the concept. Long overdue, after they dicked the cricket world around with their refusal of DRS for nearly a decade and the whole kerfuffle they caused when they toured here last summer about their refusal to play a day/nighter at Adelaide (as well as avoiding the Gabba due to their poor record there).
But in a 2 test series where one of the tests was already planned to be a day/nighter (Adelaide), the other test should also be a day/nighter, especially if it's held outside of the school holidays. The marquee MCG (Boxing Day) and SCG (New Year's) tests should still remain day games. Besides Adelaide which has now become the traditional home of day/night tests in Australia, Brisbane/Canberra/Hobart should be the other candidates for day/night tests.
Perth has become a problematic situation since they went from playing at the 20k capacity WACA to 60k capacity Optus Stadium. Initially the 3 hour time difference made it ideal with primetime viewership in the eastern states when it was at the WACA. However, with the below average crowds the test vs India got last summer, CA felt under pressure to increase crowds this summer as 10-20k in a 60k stadium is a bad look on tv, hence why they made it a day/nighter and stuffing around the Kiwis by making the game finish at 1-1:30am New Zealand time.
