Embarrassing delay at Waca Ground

PERTH, Australia: The ageing Waca Ground was the scene of an embarrassing delay in play on the third day of the second Test between Australia and New Zealand in Perth yesterday.

The day’s opening session was held up for 17 minutes because ground staff were unable to move the sightscreen at the northern end to facilitate a change of approach by left- arm paceman Mitchell Starc.

Starc had decided to go around the wicket to Kane Williamson, who had asked for the sightscreen to be moved to the right.

Despite there being broad white sheets either side of the screen, the umpires stopped play, with New Zealand on 160 for 2, in response to Australia’s 559 for nine declared.

Players stood and waited while Waca staff worked to fix the problem with the sightscreen, which was above an advertisement for Cricket Australia’s website, with the slogan “Where play never stops”.

The debacle continued what has been a largely forgettable Test for the Waca, in Western Australia’s capital Perth, which looks set to be phased out as an international Test venue in the coming years.

The new Burswood stadium currently being constructed on the other side of the Swan River, in full view of the Waca, is being tipped to open with an Ashes Test between Australia and England in 2017-18.

The Waca will likely then only be used for Tests against smaller nations and could even cease to be a Test venue by 2018. — AFP