PERTH, Australia, Dec 13, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The boss of Perth’s swanky new
stadium, which hosts its maiden Test this week, wants it to be used for a
Boxing Day or New Year’s Test, traditionally played in Melbourne and Sydney.
Mike McKenna said he was keen to raise the issue with Cricket Australia.
The governing body’s contract with the Melbourne Cricket Ground expires at
the end of this summer and their deal with the Sydney Cricket Ground runs out
in 2022.
“I know that Cricket Australia will be looking to have those conversations
and I dare say they will have the first conversation with the MCG but if the
opportunity comes to talk to us, we would be very keen to have those
conversations,” McKenna told Fairfax newspapers Thursday.
“We are always talking behind the scenes. We had a very good conversation
with Cricket Australia and we know what the timings are and what the
opportunities are.
“I think the Boxing Day Test match, New Year’s Test match, iconic events
like that, if they were to become available, the government over here would
be very keen to look at them, for sure.”
Fairfax said Cricket Australia had no immediate intentions of changing its
“venue hire agreement” with the MCG and the SCG, but had also made clear that
financial returns from Tests were paramount.
The state-of-the-art 60,000-capacity Perth Stadium, also known as Optus
Stadium, opened in January this year and has since been used to host
Australian Rules football games.
– Fast and bouncy –
It is the third largest sports ground in Australia and home to the Perth
Scorchers Big Bash League (BBL) team.
England and South Africa played one-day internationals at the venue this
year, but it has yet to host a Test. Five-day games were previously played at
the venerable WACA Ground, across the Swan River.
That ramshackle venue held its 44th and last Test a year ago, when England
were in town.
Come Friday, new Aus$1.6 billion (US$1.15 billion) stadium will be in the
spotlight when Australia look to level their four-match series with India
after crashing in Adelaide by 31 runs. Like the WACA, a fast and bouncy deck
is expected to confront the teams.
“I’m really fascinated and can’t wait to see what the wicket brings,”
Australia coach Justin Langer told reporters. “If we can get (WACA-style pace
and bounce) it’d be a great thing for Test cricket.”
So far only four cricket games have been held there, with the home side
ominously losing all of them.
The Perth Scorchers were hammered by 71 runs in a BBL semi-final against
the Hobart Hurricanes earlier this year, and both England and South Africa
beat Australia in one-dayers at the venue.
Western Australia then lost to New South Wales in a domestic four-day clash
last month.
Test opener Marcus Harris, a Perth native, has never played at the ground
but denied that the home team losing all four games was a bad omen.
“No I don’t think it is a hoodoo at all,” he told reporters. “I wasn’t
aware of it (those results) so I’m not too worried about it.”