Australia lose a weapon as they drop the Waca

Australia lose a weapon as they drop the Waca

by Brett McKay
Cricket news, scores and fixtures

The Baggy Green have a proud record in Perth, so why remove the Waca from the series against India?

Cricket Australia has – to quote the body itself – "devastated" the Western Australia Cricket Association and its key broadcast partner of the last three decades over its announcement that the Waca will not host a Test for the 2014-2015 summer.

The Perth Test is one of the Waca's major sources of annual revenue, though it has been granted additional one-day internationals in 2014-2015 as compensation.

With the 2014-2015 international schedule to be shortened due to Australia and New Zealand playing host to the Cricket World Cup, to be played in February and March 2015, Australia will play only four Tests against India, instead of the regular five or six that cricket fans have known and loved for decades.

CA's major broadcast partner, the Nine Network, will be far from thrilled at the news. The Perth Test is regularly one of the most watched matches every summer, due to the time difference between Perth and the eastern seaboard. The evening session beams live into lounge rooms in prime television ratings timeslots.

It's for this same reason that Nine is leading the push for the introduction of day/night Tests, which could well be trialled as soon as the 2015-2016 summer.

With Adelaide Oval's $535m redevelopment set to increase its capacity beyond 50,000 people, Perth was thought to be jockeying with Brisbane for the remaining match in the compressed schedule, and with the assumption being that Perth would win out because of the broadcasting advantages it provides.

On the surface, it would appear that CA has made the decision based purely on stadium size, with the Waca ground's capacity considerably smaller than the four other major cricket stadia: the Gabba in Brisbane, Adelaide Oval, the MCG and the SCG.

Indeed, the official word from CA cites this very reason. "The Waca ground has the smallest capacity of the five mainland Test venues and has historically attracted lower attendances. The Waca has been working hard to improve the facilities for its fans but it still requires significant improvements," the CA chief executive James Sutherland said in a statement.

Test cricket cynics could be excused for wondering if other factors behind the decision are in play, though.

The BCCI is by far the major financial contributor to international cricket, via the incredible broadcast revenue coming in from that country. Aside from a home Ashes summer, an Indian series in Australia is the only other money-making tour to these shores.

Further, the BCCI has become shameless in the manner with which they throw their weight around in world cricket. South Africa found out only last month that what was thought was a confirmed Indian tour schedule for the coming summer has been shortened, a move said to be the major consequence of Cricket South Africa appointing a new CEO despite the expressed misgivings of India.

And it's with this in mind that the 'other factors' question might be asked.

After India were humbled at the Waca in two-and-a-half days in the 2011-2012 summer, thanks mainly to their inability to adapt to the extra pace and bounce of what is still considered the fastest pitch in Australia, you have to wonder if the BCCI has perhaps had a say in which ground would miss out.

India have lost three Tests in Perth in four visits since 1977, their only win coming in 2008 when the Waca went through an uncharacteristically low and slow period. A new curator has returned the Waca to past glories in recent seasons, and India certainly did not cope well with the conditions when they last toured, making just 161 and 171 en route to an innings and 37-run loss.

Of course, India playing hardball with CA is not a new thing. They very nearly abandoned the 2007-2008 tour after the spiteful Sydney Test, where the 'Monkeygate' allegations of racial vilification were levelled at Indian spinner Harbhajan Singh. Only some very quick thinking – and major placation, Australian players maintained at the time – by CA prevented the tourists taking their bat and ball and going home.

The Waca having the smallest capacity cannot be argued, and on that basis, the official reasons behind the decision will stand up. And perhaps if it were any other nation touring, it would quite likely be accepted as being a completely reasonable commercial decision, broadcasting concerns notwithstanding.

As soon as the BCCI becomes part of the equation though, you can't help but wonder.

Australia cricket team
India cricket team
BCCI
Cricket
Australia sport
Western Australia
Brett McKay