CRICKET TEST GATES

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 43, 6 March 1937, Page 14

CRICKET TEST GATES

WORLD RECORD RECEIPTS FIGURES 0F 1928-29 BEATEN HOW PROFITS ARE DIVIDED EXPENSES £4000 TO £5000 A MATCH. The world record for cricket Test gate receipts have been hfoken. In 1928-29, the' Test matches yielded £75,325. In the current season's series that total was well passed by the second day of the fifth Test at Melbourne, which was cohchided this WCek. A sum of £5681 Was required to head the previous record. More than that Was taken on the secOnd day, £6,488. Total Peceipts from the first four Tests— £69,645— were only £707 less than the aggregate receipts for the five Tests of the 1932-33 tour. This is largely due to the world record figure at Melbourne, £29,667, and the new Adelaide record of £17,495. Receipts from the Brisbane Test were £583 lower than on the last tour, and Sydney figures were £2552 lower. Figures for the four Tests were:— First Test, Brisbane, £10,352. Second Test, Sydney, £12,131. Third Test, Melbourne, £29,667. Fourt Test, Adelaide, £17,495. Total, £69,645. The total receipts from the five TestS of 1924-25 (£65,784) were surpassed at the end of the Fourth Test this year. Expenses are estimated between £4000 and £5000 a match, so that the proflts to be divided exceeded £50,000 without counting the Fifth Test. Sharing Profits. The profits are shared on the fdllowlng basis: — Englishmen receive ls (half the outer ground charge) for every person who pays to enter the ground. For the Melbourne Test this was approximately £12,710. Ten per cent. of the net profits go to trustees of the ground — about £2500 at Melbourne. Seventy-five per cent. of the remainder goes to the State Cricket Association, the V.C.A. share of the third Test being nearly £10,000. The remaining 25 per centt goes to the Board of Control for distribution among the States — three-thirteenths each to Victoria, New South Wales a#id South Australia, two-thirteenths to Queensland and one-thirteenth each to Tasmania and Western Australia. Grants to dubs. These profits are the State Associations' principal source of revenue and enable Sheffield Shield cricket to be conducted each year whether it is profitable or not. In Victoria the Test proflts make It . possible for ' the V.C.A. to foster cricket With annual dividends of about £100 to each district club, and other grants to junior and country cricket bodies.

In the early days of his cricket career L. O'B. Fleetwood-Smith, the Australian left-hand bowler, trundled right hand. An injury-to his shoulder was responsihle foi- his makino the djange.