WACA: A fast bowlers’ paradise slips into ruin

Renowned for pace and bounce, WACA ground has given way to the modern Optus Stadium in Perth

PERTH: Matagarup is the name of the bridge that connects WACA in East Perth to Perth Stadium in Burswood. But they are more like two worlds. On one hand is the old, glorious but stubborn version of cricket that refused to keep pace with time till time chose to move ahead. The Lillee-Marsh stand has still managed to survive its onslaught but the edges of the Langer loft is catching rust, as do the seats on the edge of the grass banks, now covered in sand.

The Prindiville and Inverarity stands have been demolished, and one of the six floodlights dismantled. Makeover is imminent. The WACA we know and heard stories of is slowly making way for a modern, upscale cricket ground for Western Australia and its community. Only, it will never host international cricket again. The reasons are understandable. The WACA barely holds 20,000 people, the Perth Stadium takes in around 60,000. The premises are bigger, amenities better, and the overall feel is swankier. But nothing about it screams cricket.

It’s another of those modern, concrete behemoths without heart and soul—no members’ pavilion with home and visitors’ change rooms, no grass hills or banks and no stands named after former cricketers. Even the media centre is named after the revered sports commentator Dennis Cometti, who has played and coached Australian rules. In fact, this stadium—true to its multipurpose badge—could host a cricket match today, an Australian rules match tomorrow and a U2 concert the day after. Burrowing its entire diameter is a cavernous underpass where people are asked to walk behind a yellow line on both sides so that buses, trailers, forklifts, carts and cars can ply in the middle. There are no intricate wooden or iron gates but industrial class steel and aluminium roller shutters. You wouldn’t know which way is the curator’s room or the administrative block.

Everything is mechanised, with serial numbers and codes for identification. Most gates are locked, there is no one to tell you where to go, and all tunnels give way to similar intersections of the ground—several layers of concrete, uniform colour schemed seats and giant hanging screens. It rises from the ground so high and mighty that the Fremantle Doctor hasn’t been allowed even a sliver to pass through. The sameness is depressing.

WACA makes you breathe lightly again. Pakistan are here to train, in the shadow of the towers and the scoreboard that proudly bears a gay pride flag. The speed merchants start rustling up serious pace. Babar Azam tries to bowl off-spin as Adam Voges, Shaun Marsh and others trickle in for a Western Australia meeting in the old offices. Everyone seemed just like where they should be. Only the ground around them isn’t the same anymore.

Cold gusts of wind from the Swan sweeps in a lifetime of memories. Of Justin Langer standing with the breeze to his back, hitting his crease with intent as Shoaib Akhtar runs into bowl, from almost the sightscreen. Of Norman Cowans losing his helmet trying to avoid Dennis Lillee’s bouncer in the 1982-83 Ashes Test. Of John Snow giving hell to Australia’s batters. That unplayable, impossible Wasim Akram bouncer that almost knocked off David Boon’s head? That was here.

One of the newer grounds in Australia, WACA came and went from our collective memory just like that. No one could have predicted that demise, especially not after it had become the third venue, after Melbourne and Sydney, to install floodlights. It was never very comfortable for the spectators, providing very little shade from the harsh sun. But it had character even when it had become shabby. The pitch was quick, and became quicker in the afternoon when the Western Australia sun beat down. Till the Doctor arrived.

All that’s left of it now are stories. A mural of Lillee on the wall near the main entrance is a reminder of its flamboyant past. As is the Truman Entrance and the giant scoreboard that holds sway. Geoff Marsh, Wood, Langer, Inverarity, Hughes, Shepherd, Moody, Yardley, McKenzie, Lillee, Rod Marsh, Alderman—it still wears the names with pride. Standing underneath the scoreboard, one wondered what watching cricket from there felt like for a fan. Michael Holding flattening Australia for 76 in 1984, Glenn McGrath taking 8/24 against Pakistan in 2004, Curtly Ambrose blowing away Australia with 7/25—these were reels created here. This wasn’t Australia’s favourite ground. This was the fast bowlers’ bastion.

HT The WACA ground sent shivers down the spine of many batters.