Time to fan the flames

The Gabba: Spectators should pack their sun screen

Aussie fan Scott Henry assesses changed attitudes towards Test cricket in his homeland, ahead of the series against the touring West Indies.

For the average, cricket-mad Aussie of the 1980s, when the West Indies ruled the roost, welcoming a team from the Caribbean boiled the blood and whet the appetite.

Perhaps the emotion was a nod to the Australian preference for competing as the underdog, or perhaps it was born from a desire to knock possibly the most outstanding - and certainly the most arrogant - cricket team ever seen off its perch.

It is hard to say, but when Clive Lloyd and his loaded artillery came Down Under we were always ready to rumble.

Times have changed.

The ensuing years have seen Australia climb to the top of the world tree and the West Indies fall like a popped balloon.

I wonder how many heads Jimmy Adams' struggling squad will turn during the Test series, which kicks off at The Gabba in Brisbane on Thursday.

Intensity

It is doubtful whether Brian Lara, Shivnarine Chanderpaul and Courtney Walsh - bless you, Courtney, for stalling retirement for one last roll of the arm - can provoke the same kind of intensity in the home crowd as their majestic, flamboyant predecessors.

Courtney Walsh: A throwback to the West Indies glory days

By the same token, are Steve Waugh's boys capable of stirring the emotions the way Lillee, Thommo and Allan Border once did?

Continued success provides fertile ground for apathy, yet the growing professionalism of the sport has also sterilised the way in which fans perceive it.

Crowd figures point to the purest form of the game lagging behind its colourful one-day cousin in the popularity stakes.

Aggressive marketing by the Australian Cricket Board in recent years in an attempt to persuade the zinc-smothered bods back to Test matches is laudable.

But it is also ironic that the ACB are having to convince the Australian public to watch the team live during their most fruitful period in their history.

The Gabba crowd, traditionally understated, will give the first and probably sternest hint of how things might pan out during this Antipodean summer.

The climate in the Queensland capital is such that businessmen go to work in shorts and the public's attitude to summer sports often mirrors that.

True, the ones who do go invariably don the old knee-exposers, but watching on TV seems a safer option for most.

Hostilities

Moving on past the cricket-friendly venues of the WACA (second Test) and Adelaide Oval (third Test), genuine hostilities will not begin until Boxing Day at the MCG.

Merv Hughes had his own personal fan club

Scenes of fans in Bay 13 aping Merv 'The Moustache' Hughes during a limber-up, then giving the opposition batsmen merry hell as he started his run-up, epitomise the hard run visiting teams are given in Australia's sporting capital.

A closely fought series at that juncture will guarantee a capacity Southern Stand and an Aussie attitude likely to feed the remainder of the series.

Although a trusty band of supporters loyally follow the team around, we cannot match a travelling roadshow with the same profile as England's 'Barmy Army'.

Indeed, we rely on local fans across this vast land to provide its own brand of support.

At this crucial time for cricket the world over, it's time for Aussie fans to find their voice and perfect their calypso moves.

C'mon Aussies, the Windies are here.