Perth ready to host Boxing Day Test should MCG be deemed unfit, states Optus Stadium chief
Mike McKenna, chief of the new Perth Stadium, has stated that the association would do everything within its power to be ready to host the Boxing Day Test. The prospect of MCG hosting the Boxing Day Test has come under jeopardy after a shield game was abandoned due to the pitch being 'dangerous'.
With less than 20 days left for the annual showdown which is the Boxing Day Test, the prospect of Melbourne hosting it has come under jeopardy after a Sheffield Shield game between Victoria and Western Australia, that commenced on December 7, was abandoned due to the pitch being deemed 'dangerous' and 'unfit'. The play on Day 1, and subsequently the match, was called off after just 39.4 overs, after several good-length deliveries teed off the surface and hit the batsmen.
Whilst Cricket Australia (CA) are confident that the Victoria will prepare a good track in time for the Boxing Day Test, Mike McKenna, chief of the new Optus Stadium in Perth, is ready to pounce on an opportunity to host the Boxing Day Test should a need arise. McKenna has revealed that the Western Australian cricket association is ready to help CA out and is also licking his lips of hosting a Boxing Day Test, with him believing that such a spectacle will help building the audience in the state.
"The state (WA) hasn't been asked to but stands ready to (present) if there is an opportunity. I expect there will be meetings with Cricket Australia ahead of the Perth Test this coming week," McKenna was quoted as saying by smh.com.au.
"It's a great ground here, it has a big, passionate fan base and they need a reason to come to the cricket. I think an event like Boxing Day that we can be consistent on the date , like the MCG has been for Melbourne, will give us a chance to build our audience. If Cricket Australia were interested in talking to us about the prospects, then I have no doubt the venue and the government would be very keen to have that conversation," he added.
Over the course of the last couple of years, the MCG has come under immense criticism for the flatness of the pitch, with the ICC even rating the pitch 'poor' for the wicket it dished out in the 2017/18 Ashes. Former Australian coach Darren Lehmann has urged Victoria to get the balance of the pitch right and feels that of late, the pitch has been either doing too little or too much. He, however, wishes to see the Boxing Day affair to stay at the MCG.
"You want it to stay at the MCG but the simple fact is they've got to get the pitch right. "The pitch has either been too flat and done nothing ... this one did a fair bit and was dangerous. Somewhere in between they've got to get it right and get it right quickly."
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