MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Hobart will stage the fifth Ashes test between Australia and England in place of Perth, which was stripped of the hosting rights on Monday because of Western Australia border controls, Cricket Australia said on Saturday.
Hobart’s Bellerive Oval, which was scheduled to host a test against Afghanistan in November before it was postponed in the wake of the Taliban takeover of the country, will host its first Ashes clash from Jan. 14-18.
Melbourne, which will stage the third test in the series, and Sydney, which will be the venue for the fourth, had both offered to replace Perth – options that would have provided much greater revenue for Cricket Australia (CA).
“I would like to thank all the States and Territories who took part in this process,” CA boss Nick Hockley said in a statement.
“The submissions we received were outstanding and we had no doubt that each of the venues that took part would have hosted a wonderful event.
“We also acknowledge the postponement of the Australia and Afghanistan Test due to take place in Hobart earlier in the year played a part in the decision.” The picturesque Bellerive ground holds 19,500 but has attracted far fewer fans than that for previous test matches with one journalist famously counting the crowd one-by-one during the series against Sri Lanka in 2012.
Hobart last hosted a test when South Africa toured in 2016-17.
Western Australia’s requirement for travellers from New South Wales to quarantine for 14 days made it impossible for the teams to complete the fourth test in Sydney on Jan. 9 and be free to start the fifth match on Jan. 14.
The state has largely managed to keep COVID-19 out for the duration of the pandemic by cutting itself off from the rest of Australia and the world.
Given that success, the government was not prepared to compromise on its protocols even to ensure that the Ashes test went ahead.
That means the 60,000-seater Perth Stadium, built at a cost of A$1.6 billion ($1.14 billion) and completed in 2018, will miss out on test cricket for the second year in a row.
The stadium, which replaced the WACA ground as Western Australia’s test venue, hosted tests against India in 2018 and New Zealand in 2019.
($1 = 1.4004 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Ian Ransom; Editing by Ken Ferris)
