Follow UsWith 100 days to go for the Ashes, the excitement is slowly building towards it as England and Australia will resume their rivalry. Australia have dominated England lately, but under Ben Stokes, England have been a force to be reckoned with.
England recently drew their Test series at home against India, while Australia crushed West Indies in the Caribbean. With the health of Test cricket and its sustainability, especially among the smaller nations, questioned of late, Cricket Australia (CA) chief Todd Greenberg believes that the Ashes will be the biggest sporting event in Australia this year.
"This will be the biggest sports event in Australia this year," Greenberg said, according to NDTV Sports.
"The interest is quite extraordinary with ticket allocations for 11 of the 20 days on sale already exhausted."
Greenberg also believes that investment needs to be made in the right spaces where Test cricket means something - like the Ashes - else the smaller nations will be pushed towards bankruptcy if they are forced to play the longest format.
"We're trying to send countries bankrupt if we force them to try to play Test cricket," he said.
"We need to make sure we invest in the right spaces to play Test cricket where it means something. That's why the Ashes will be as enormous and as profitable as it is - because it means something."
The five-match Test series between Australia and England will commence with the first Test in Perth from November 21 onwards.