Ashes summer: CA’s delight as fans rally for dead rubbers

It is a relief for administrators that Australians appear to love the blood of an English team.

Bumper crowds are expected for the remaining two Ashes Tests this summer.

Fee-fi-fo-fum it is a relief for administrators that Australians appear to love the blood of an English team.

For the third time in four series the Ashes contest is done before the two biggest Tests. The scoreline renders the matches at the MCG and SCG a glorified victory parade for Steve Smith’s side, but administrators are hoping there will be a record crowd on Boxing Day.

Australia completed a clean sweep in 2006-07 and 2013-14 and the chance of doing the same is at hand with the locals 3-0 up against an England outfit that has been competitive at times, but wanting when it counted.

Australia won by 10 wickets in Brisbane, 120 runs in Adelaide then an innings and 41 runs in Perth. England have done their best, but are missing allrounder Ben Stokes and have had patchy performances from senior players. Their bowlers are on average 7kmh slower than Australia’s, a small but significant difference in conditions where their strengths — seam and swing — are nullified.

Tickets sales for the Ashes were strong before the contest began. Boxing Day sold out quickly and so did the first four days in Sydney which has only half the capacity.

Cricket Australia is hoping to edge past the MCG record crowd of 93,103 for the World Cup final in 2015. The previous record of 90,800 was set on day two of the 1960-61 game against the West Indies.

Crowd size is dictated by how many members turn up, but projections suggest that a crowd of 91-93,000 is possible. All general public tickets have been sold out.

The 2006-07 series was the last for one of the greatest Australian sides and a farewell for Glenn McGrath, Shane Warne and Justin Langer. The 2013-14 promised blood sport with Mitchell Johnson in terrifying form.

Crowds may be denied the theatre of Mitchell Starc in Melbourne as the quick has a bruised heel and many believe he will not play.

Selector Mark Waugh indicated it was likely the side would take a conservative approach with the bowler who has a history of foot problems, most recently breaking a bone in India.

Sydney was the second fastest selling match in the series even thought it is the last. Tickets for the first three days sold out quickly and reports yesterday indicated only 500 public seats are available for day four.

There are claims that up to 30,000 British tourists are in Australia for at least one match of the Ashes and many focus on the big games at the SCG and MCG, although the Barmy Army has been a rowdy presence at the first three matches.

Cricket Australia seized 3000 tickets from a scalper in Perth which were put back on sale. The first three days of that game had been sold out at the time.

There are expectations that small amounts of tickets will be released for the sold out days, but they will be snapped up quickly.

Steve Smith yesterday dismissed a plea for umpires to protect England’s tailenders from an ongoing bouncer barrage, saying Australia’s Ashes rivals would do exactly the same — if they had faster bowlers.

Former England captain Mike Atherton argues that officials should better enforce rules about intimidatory fast bowling in the showpiece Test series.

“It’s a bit over the top,” Smith said, when asked about Atherton’s column. “No doubt, if they had the kind of pace that our bowlers can generate, they’d probably do the same thing.