The 2015 season, a campaign during which Nottinghamshire broke all-time records for both NatWest T20 Blast crowds and Membership, has also seen impressive attendances across the country.
English cricket has recorded its highest overall figures for attendances at international and domestic matches in the 18 year history of the England & Wales Cricket Board.
An Ashes summer, combined with three successful domestic competitions, attracted more than 2.3 million fans to matches and a record number of spectators attended the NatWest T20 Blast tournament.
Nowhere was the popularity of T20 highlighted more than at Trent Bridge where the crowd of 13,582 for the local derby against Derbyshire was a Notts Outlaws record - and the tournament average at the venue topped 10,000 for the first time.
Despite all five Investec Ashes Test matches finishing inside four days, international attendances were still up by 75,000 on 2014 with Nottingham hosting a sellout Royal London One-Day International between England and New Zealand, as well as the fourth Test of the Investec Ashes.
In county cricket overall, more than 1.5 million people attended LV=County Championship, Royal London One-Day Cup and NatWest T20 Blast matches combined – the highest in the ECB’s history.
All three competitions recorded increased total attendances year-on-year and the NatWest T20 Blast tournament overall saw its annual attendance rise by more than 100,000.
Other key trends from 2015 included:
- More than 560,000 fans watched England in Investec Test matches; 193,000 in Royal London ODIs and 31,000 in NatWest International T20s.
- The average NatWest T20 Blast attendance per match rose by 800 and eleven out of 18 counties saw their attendances in the competition increase year-on-year, with crowds at Trent Bridge up by 17%.
- 513,000 people watched LV= County Championship matches – up from 495,000 last year.
- More than 200,000 people attended the 72 Royal London One-Day Cup matches – an increase of around 500 per match on the previous year.
The 2015 season has seen dramatic last-gasp four day victories, thrilling limited-overs contests and an historic Investec Ashes Test, all in the unique surroundings of Trent Bridge.
Next season, we’d wager, will be no less enthralling and frankly we’d hate for you to miss out.