Former batter David Warner has hit out at the “pathetic” attendances in the ongoing Test series between South Africa and Australia.
South Africa lost the first Test match by 214 runs in Durban, with large sections of the Kingsmead ground empty, and the crowds haven’t really picked up through the first two rain-affected days of the second Test in Gqeberha.
“We keep hearing how important Test cricket is, but where are the fans in South Africa?” former opener Warner said in a social media post on Tuesday.
“Empty stands, no atmosphere, and we’re supposed to believe the format is thriving?
“You can’t keep calling Test cricket the pinnacle of the game if no one turns up to watch it.
“Harsh reality, but someone has to say it. Pathetic.”
Warner was a central figure in the infamous ‘sandpapergate’ scandal that dominated Australia’s last tour of South Africa in 2018.
Vice captain at the time, Warner was found to have led the plot to alter the condition of the ball, including guiding fellow opener Cameron Bancroft on how to use the sandpaper.
Warner was given a one-year ban and told he would never be considered for a leadership position within the team again.
‘Thorough internal review’ launched into crowd size
Following the poorly-attended first Test in Durban, the Kwa-Zulu Natal Cricket Union (KZNCU) said that they would launch a “thorough internal review” into the reasons for such sparse crowds.
A total of just under 20,000 fans attended the game across the five days, amounting to less than a fifth of Kingsmead’s capacity.
The Test was South Africa’s first at home since January 2025, and also their first at home since becoming World Test champions.
“A Test match of this quality, featuring the Proteas and Australia, deserved greater support in the stands,” Heinrich Strydom, KZNCU CEO, said in a statement. “While we recognise that supporters face competing demands on their time and finances, we must also understand better what influences their decisions to attend and what more we can do to make live cricket an attractive and worthwhile experience.
“This is something we will reflect on as a Union, through a thorough internal review, and as a cricket community. We need to listen to our supporters, reconnect with our communities, and continue to find ways to make Test cricket more accessible, engaging and appealing to families and cricket lovers of all ages.”
Athers: South Africa crowds ‘a worrying sign’
Sky Sports’ Michael Atherton was also critical of the first Test’s crowds, or lack thereof.
“It started on a Friday, was played over the weekend. It’s the number one and number two ranked teams in the world, the first Test match at home for South Africa since becoming world champions,” Atherton said on the Sky Sports Cricket Podcast.
“Plus there was all the context of it being the first Test between these two in South Africa since the infamous [ball-tampering] 2018 series.
“If you can’t drag a crowd in given that context, it’s a worrying sign.”
Fellow former England captain Nasser Hussain added: “It plays into the narrative that Test match cricket is dying when you watch that and see no one there. But I don’t think that it is dying.
“Even sometimes out in India the crowds aren’t full. Pakistan, we went out there after however many years [of them not hosting Tests], England were back and they weren’t sold out. But people there care deeply about their Test side.
“The lights issue, and going off [for bad light] at half past three [on day one], I think that’s more the discussion.
“What can we do to make sure that sitting in a stand on a hot day is very much a good experience for the people that have paid their money? That they’re sitting there at 5.30pm and not been sent home at 3.30pm due to bad light?”
This is the first time in a summer that South Africa is hosting Tests as early as October, as increasing demands on the cricket calendar squeeze premier fixtures into the shoulder windows.
South Africa’s prime Test period is between November and March but with the SA20 occupying most of January and February and the IPL beginning in March, Tests have been cut to the margins.
Watch continued coverage of the second Test between South Africa and Australia live on Sky Sports. Latest Sky Sports deals or stream with no contract on NOW.
