Ashes Test loss could cost Western Australia Cricket up to $5million

Christina Matthews, WA Cricket’s chief executive, has confirmed that her organisation will be seeking compensation from Cricket Australia

Western Australia Cricket will lose up to $5million after Perth was stripped of the fifth Ashes Test over the state’s border restrictions.

The Optus Stadium – the city's 60,000-seater venue – had been due to host the game between January 14 and 18 but Cricket Australia confirmed on Monday that it would have to be moved.

The WA government's Covid-19 quarantine protocols dictate that players, families, match and broadcast staff would have to have completed 14 days in isolation following their arrival in Perth after the fourth Test in Sydney.

"It's up to them whether they want to adhere to those rules or not," WA premier Mark McGowan said last week.

The schedule for the series – with the fourth Test only set to finish on January 9 should it last the full five days – left such a scenario unworkable for organisers.

Christina Matthews, WA Cricket’s chief executive, has confirmed that her organisation will be seeking compensation from Cricket Australia.

"We're talking between three to five million dollars, which is all our members' fees," she said of the financial loss caused by moving the match, which would have been the new stadium's first Ashes Test.

"We still get our grant from Cricket Australia for international cricket, but our business model is based on members.

^{The Optus Stadium hosted the Women's Big Bash final in late November}

"If there's a financial advantage in allocating that fifth Test to a particular state, we expect to receive some of that financial advantage to compensate for what we've lost. I'd hope we’d recover 50 per cent.

"I'm really cranky about the fact it's the second year in a row we're missing a Test, but there's really no one to blame which makes it really hard. It's just circumstances."

Matthews added that the size of the broadcast team required to stage the Test had proven a difficult issue to overcome for organisers.

"Not just the broadcasters in Fox and Seven," she said. "There's also Hawkeye, there's Spidercam and there's DRS that only have a certain specialist group of people who follow it all around the country.

"They can't get here any earlier than the players. When they come to do their job, they've got to go in and out of the public areas. So, there's things that can’t be kept away from the public and that wasn’t fully known until about 10 days ago."

In a statement on Monday, CA said: "While absolutely every effort was made to ensure the final Test match of the series could be staged in Perth, border controls, quarantine requirements and the complexities of staging a five-Test series in a tight schedule have meant it is unfortunately not possible to align the respective priorities of the WA Government, CA and WA Cricket.

"These complexities also mean that any suggestion of changing the order of the venues would not be feasible. Discussions about a replacement venue for the fifth Test match are under way."

This decision will not waiver our efforts to bring live cricket to Perth this summer as we continue to work closely with Cricket Australia and our State Government. #WESTISBEST pic.twitter.com/bS31E9X2OO

— WACA (@WACA_Cricket) December 6, 2021

A statement from WA Cricket added: "This decision will not waiver our efforts to bring live cricket to Perth this summer as we continue to work closely with Cricket Australia and the WA Government.

"With world-class facilities and the opportunity for cricket fans to attend matches we maintain that WA is well-positioned to host elite cricket, including Big Bash League matches.

"We witnessed the Perth Scorchers claim their first-ever WBBL title last month in front of the largest standalone crowd in the league's history, and we look forward to hosting the BBL opener against the Brisbane Heat this Wednesday, December 8."