Cricket crowds dry up after lengthy summer on and off field

Australia's summer of cricketing dominance will hit another high at Manuka Oval on Tuesday night, should Australia down Sri Lanka in the third of five T20 internationals, and wrap up another series win.

The home side won a super-over thriller at the Sydney Cricket Ground on Sunday night, yet only 6305 bothered turning up to witness one of the matches of the summer.

That was about half the size of the crowd for the first T20 at the same venue, which means less than 20,000 have clicked through the turnstiles for the final international series of the summer.

About 5500 tickets had already been sold by Monday morning for Tuesday's clash at Manuka, many of which were made up of Canberra's cricket-mad Sri Lankan diaspora.

Those fans should ensure a pulsating atmosphere in Canberra as Sri Lanka desperately tries to get a foothold in the series.

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But it seems their Australian counterparts are suffering a bout of cricket fatigue.

The summer kicked off with the pre-Ashes sexting scandal, which swiftly led to the resignation of former captain Tim Paine.

A horribly one-sided Ashes series followed, intertwined with the endless hum of Big Bash cricket, and then the messy exit of Justin Langer as Australian coach.

The Langer saga unfortunately overshadowed the second Ashes series, which boasted arguably the greatest ever women's Test match, played at Manuka Oval, but ultimately finished in another lopsided Australian win.

Andrew McDonald has taken over as coach on an interim basis, and steered Australia to two T20 wins ahead of a fast-approaching tour of Pakistan, but the lack of crowd support has been telling.

"There's been a lot of cricket obviously, there's so much Big Bash cricket now, maybe that's had an effect," Australian rookie Josh Inglis said.

"There was a good Sri Lankan showing last [Sunday] night and it was a great, great atmosphere, great noise, so hopefully more of the same [in Canberra]."

Inglis admits the players are also starting to fatigue after a long summer, although the English-born 26-year-old said it wasn't affecting his game given the excitement of making his Australian debut last week.

"Some blokes have had a break, other haven't, you've just got to find a way to refresh yourself while you can," Inglis said.

"It is tough when there are Covid protocols in place. It's been a long year for me, it's been tough, I haven't been home in a while and I'm very much looking forward to that.

"But it's so exciting, I've only just started playing international cricket so I'm absolutely pumped, and showing plenty of energy at the minute."

That energy was on full display on Sunday batting at number three, where Inglis blasted a quickfire 48 on a tricky SCG wicket to help Australia to 6-164.

Sri Lanka slumped to 3-25 and looked in massive trouble before opener Pathum Nissanka (73 off 53) hauled his side off the canvas.

The visitors smashed 18 runs off the final six balls to force a super over, but not before former Australian captain Steve Smith spectacularly knocked himself out while diving for an impossible catch over the rope in the deep.

Smith collided heavily with the SCG turf, and has since been ruled out of the remainder of the T20 series.

"We spoke to Smudge last night. I'm pretty sure he knocked himself out when he hit his head, we hope he's okay and pulled up well over the next few days," Inglis said.

"He was just a bit spaced out I think. He hit his head hard."

The injury capped a rough weekend for Smith who failed to be picked up in the IPL auction, unlike Inglis's good mate Tim David who fetched a staggering $1.53m.

"I haven't spoken to him yet, I don't want to pump that ego up too much."

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