The chief executive of Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA), Christina Matthews, has said that she is hoping Cricket Australia (CA) compensates them with at least half the money that they are going to lose because of the fifth Ashes test match being taken away from Perth.
The new Optus Stadium in Perth, which also hosted the AFL grand final a couple of months ago, was all set to host its first-ever test match in January next year, but it could not materialise because of the strict COVID quarantine guidelines of the West Australian government.
After much deliberation, CA eventually decided that the test match will have to be taken away from Perth and will have to be shifted elsewhere, which is now expected to inflict a loss of up to 5 million Australian Dollars upon the Western Australia Cricket Association.
Christina Matthews insisted that she had asked CA to think about it from the commercial point of view before reaching any decision, but CA probably had no choice with the WA government not ready to ease the quarantine guidelines for the cricketers and the broadcast crew.
Western Australia wasn’t able to host a test match last summer as well, when the Indian cricket team had toured Australia for a 4-match test series. Matthews is hoping that the situation around the world gets back to normal by the time the next cricket season starts in Australia and Perth gets to host a test match again.
WACA staff were working relentlessly to have Ashes cricket at new Perth stadium: Christina Matthews
Christina Matthews is not quite sure if she will still be around as the CEO when the next Ashes series takes place in Australia. Ashes cricket will return to Australia only after a 4-year cycle now, which means if there is any possibility of England and Australia locking horns in a test match in the Optus stadium, it’s in the summer of 2025.
According to Matthews, the whole WACA staff was working relentlessly to have Ashes cricket back to Perth, particularly in the new stadium which has not hosted an Ashes test so far, but it’s going to be a long wait again and some of the staff, including herself, might not even be a part of WACA by the time the moment comes.
This decision will not waiver our efforts to bring live cricket to Perth this summer as we continue to work closely with Cricket Australia and our State Government. #WESTISBEST pic.twitter.com/bS31E9X2OO
— WACA (@WACA_Cricket) December 6, 2021
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