One last ‘test’ at the WACA for England...
ENGLAND are set to face their demons for a final time after the WACA in Perth was confirmed as a venue for this winter’s Ashes – historically the toughest for the tourists Down Under.
England have not beaten Australia in a Test at the WACA since 1978, and the traditional venue will host the third Test after the new stadium on the west coast hit construction delays.
The sides have met at the Perth venue ten times since England’s last victory, drawing two while losing eight, including the last seven in succession. That included a 150-run defeat in 2013 when Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris blew the tourists away.
They are retired now, but the Aussie pace attack, featuring the likes of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and James Pattinson, will be licking their lips.
For Joe Root and his tourists it will likely mean a barrage of short balls with the pitch offering steep and quick bounce.
Cricket Australia (CA) hope the new stadium will be ready for the ODI between Australia and England on January 28.
CA chief James Sutherland, above, said: “It’s disappointing. We were really hoping the Test could be played at this magnificent new stadium.” Chris Stocks
ALL Englishmen might not have welcomed the announcement this week that the WACA in Perth will host one last Ashes Test in December.
However, it seems fitting that England, who have won just one of the 13 Tests they’ve played at the ground and have lost their last seven, will have a chance to bid farewell to the famous old venue before cricket in Perth moves to a new purpose-built stadium in Burswood.
England’s only victory at the WACA came in 1978. Even on their successful Ashes tour of 2010-11 they were hammered inside threeand-a-half days as Mitchell Johnson momentarily found his radar during what was an otherwise chastening series for the Aussie fast bowler.
As a venue it is one of the most unforgiving in the world. Perth in December is not a place for the faint-heated as the mercury regularly creeps up to levels that would allow you to fry an egg on the road outside the ground.
The WACA is in many senses a relic, the famous concrete floodlight pylons a symbol of the retro feel of a place that offers fans, players and journalists alike little shade.
Good luck if you want to escape the burning, unrelenting sun or find a toilet that isn’t packed with people and filled with the overwhelming stench of human waste.
Such are the basic facilities at the WACA, those reporting on Ashes Tests are housed in a temporary marquee that offers a far-from-ideal side-on view of the action. It is far more comfortable than sitting on an exposed grass bank – the situation most of England’s travelling fans find themselves in. But it is still boiling.
During the 2013-14 Ashes Test the electricity went out for five minutes. The fans stopped working and I felt like I was going to melt.
That match saw four successive days of temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius. Even in the shade, laptops started packing up. By day two a separate fridge had been provided to offer temporary respite for computers. Pretty much everybody, including myself, had to ‘fridge’ their laptop several times a day.
It was inconvenient at the time, but looking back it’s a fond memory we can now all laugh about with genuine fondness.The view may not be ideal and it’s hot, but it made a change from being stuck in an air-conditioned, soundproofed box.
And in an age where so many new sports stadiums are clones of each other, the WACA is one of the last bastions of old-school atmospheric cricket grounds.That’s why I’ll be relishing my final Ashes Test there later this year. It may be light on comfort, shade and facilities but it does offer something that sets the pulses racing – one of the fastest pitches in the world.
That might not work in England’s favour. But the WACA is an iconic venue that should be cherished and those who play in the final Ashes Test there will have experienced something special. Surely that’s what sport is all about?