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ECB should review their refund policy for rain. Why ticket sales for England cricket games may decline.

Any cricket fan knows that it only rains on the day that they go to a game. Cricket has always been heavily dependent on the weather and thats the way the game is played. With the advent of the plethora of one-day games many fans choose to watch a complete game rather than a single day at a test match. The problem however is the refund situation. The current crop of one day games are 50 overs per side, so a total of 100 overs in the match.

When things go wrong though, the ECB are not on the side of the fans. The recent ODI versus Sri Lanka at  Bristol was a prime example.

Sri Lanka completed their 50 overs and then essentially the rain came down and England batted only a handful of overs before the game was abandoned. Tickets were  £55 each and the rules seem rather mean relating to refunds. If 10 overs or less are bowled then a full refund, and if 10-25 overs bowled then a 50% refund. But when as in this case more than 25 overs are bowled then no refunds are made. The weather is not under the control of ECB but refunds are. They could for example give money, or credits for future tickets.

I was quite underwhelmed by seeing only half a game, with no result, getting wet and getting no refund. Pragmatically that means that next time I may choose either not to go, or buy my ticket the day before having looked at a weather forecast.

At a time when cricket tickets are less easy to sell, the ECB do themselves and the fans no favours by their draconian approach. A little more generosity and creativity might go a long way to encouraging fans to continue to turn out to watch international cricket.