WACA prepares for life after Ashes

PERTH. - A ground rich with cricketing history but wanting of modern comforts will take its final Ashes cricket bow when Australia host England in the third Test at the WACA on Thursday.

Australia’s pace bowlers will hope to make England’s last visit a forgettable one for their batsmen on a wicket renowned as one of the world’s fastest and bounciest.

Future Ashes contests will be held at the shiny, new Perth Stadium on the opposite bank of the Swan River, a 60 000-seat arena that will use a drop-in pitch, host rock concerts and share tenancy with two Australian Rules football teams. The 22 000-capacity WACA will remain a cricket venue but only host lower-profile internationals, having fallen behind the standards of rival stadiums around the country.

Fans seeking a “state-of-the-art” viewing experience may be glad to head across the river and leave the WACA’s bland terraces and ageing facilities behind.

England may also be happy to move on from a venue where they have won only once in nearly 50 years of tests.

Of the rest of those matches, most have been painful defeats, including the last visit in 2013/14 when Michael Clarke’s side thrashed Alastair Cook’s tourists by 150 runs to reclaim the Ashes.

England will march out on Thursday facing the same 2-0 predicament that weighed on Cook’s men but Joe Root’s team can draw little inspiration from recent history. - Reuters.