The Western Australian Cricket Association Ground (WACA) 1899-2016

An obituary for Perth’s once iconic cricket pitch and stadium.

OBITUARY: Western Australian Cricket Association Ground (WACA) Perth.

1899-2016

Mourned by fans of pace, bounce and fast bowlers.

Died slowly and painfully after years of being killed off by batsmen and curators alike. RIP

 

 

The Western Australian Cricket Association Ground, known more simply as the WACA, was the home of cricket in Western Australia from 1899 to 2016.

It was renowned worldwide for its trademark pace and bounce, wicketkeepers and slips often standing halfway to the boundary as firebrand quicks from all over Australia and indeed the world came storming in to deliver some of the memorable spells in Australian cricket history.

First it was Lillee and Thomson, then Ambrose, Walsh, Akhtar, Lee and Johnson, just to name a few. Fans would salivate at the prospect of seeing the best bowlers in the land rough up even the most hardened of batsmen.

A Shadow of it’s former self: The WACA Ground under lights in the recent day night Sheffield Shield match.

The dry, energy sapping Perth heat was broken up only by the famed afternoon sea breeze, known as ‘The Fremantle Doctor’. I guess we shouldn’t speak in past tense about that, as it still exists. But as for the famous cricket pitch that once existed inside the famous ground, we can’t say the same.

I went to the WACA last week for the Sheffield Shield match between Western Australia and New South Wales. It’s true; the Shield doesn’t have much going for it anymore.

The advent of the Twenty20 Big Bash means fans are quickly losing interest in watching any cricket that doesn’t involve flashy uniforms and even more expansive stroke play.

Fans simply won’t sit and watch six hours of first class cricket anymore when they have shorter forms of the game to watch.

The Good Old Days: The WACA under lights for a One Day domestic match in 2004-05. 

But me, in that small minority of cricket fans who grew up before the twenty20 revolution and experienced the joy of quality Test and One Day International cricket and fell in love with the game, still venture along to watch the old fashioned stuff.

Before we start with the pitch and the quality of the first class match, let’s start with the fact two years ago the WACA made the fateful decision to charge fans $10 to watch the state team play on a daily basis. People simply won’t go and watch that level of cricket if you charge them to do so. At most other Australian grounds it’s free, for the record.

That coupled with an $11 all day parking fee, makes it a 20 plus dollar day out at the cricket. Think that’s not too bad? How about paying $8.50 for a hamburger? $6 for a 600 ml coke? An astounding FIVE DOLLARS for a bottle of water?

Don’t worry about me over here WACA, I’m just dehydrating and in need of h2o. Oh your water coolers are empty? How convenient. Ah well best I kill my bank account than myself by going without water. Or I can go and drink out of the toilet. Nope, definitely not stooping to that level. I’ll fork out a fiver.

So after paying a solid $40 odd dollars, you are hoping for a good day’s cricket. One thing you can count on at the WACA is a good contest between bat and ball. Or at least, used to be.

A Great Sight: The WACA during the Australia v Afghanistan World Cup match in 2015. 

From the first game of the 2009-10 Sheffield Shield season to the sixth round of the 2013-14 summer, every WACA Shield match ended in a result, that meaning a win or a loss.

In that time, the average first innings score was 274, on ten occasions teams bowled out for less than 200.

Since then the average first innings score is 336, only one team bowled out for less than 200, Queensland for 167 against the pink ball under lights last summer.

Last week’s game, played under the same conditions at the same venue, saw first innings scores of 316 and 511(eight wickets down).

The lack of movement saw normally dangerous bowlers reduced to bowling machines, as the batsmen made hay while the sun shined, or the WACA lights shined in case of the night session.

GHOSTS OF SUMMERS PAST: England fast bowler Alex Tudor is stretchered off the WACA after being struck by a Brett Lee bouncer in 2002-03. SOURCE: Daily Mail. 

Since the 2013/14 round six draw, there have been two more at the venue in the preceding two seasons.

In the final round match last summer between the same two teams as this most recent match, the game was played on such a benign surface that only 14 wickets fell in the four days, a deliberate and unnecessary move from the WACA  to ensure the Warriors secured a Shield final berth.

The irony was plain for all to see a week later when Victoria dished up a similarly flat wicket for that final in Hobart, the Warriors unable to secure a victory on the final day as the pitch offered no sideways movement or spin for the bowlers.

This most recent game saw four centuries across the three innings, as well as a 96 and three more fifties. The most wickets taken by any bowler in the match was five; by young WA left arm quick Joel Paris. Quite simply, it was a bowler’s graveyard.

https://soundcloud.com/jl16/2015-16-sheffield-shield-wa-v-nsw-day-3-highlights

 

For the past two seasons the once fast and furious WACA surface has slowly become a slow, withering version of its former self.

Part of the problem has been a directive from Cricket Australia for less spicy shield wickets from the start of the 2013-14 summer. And didn’t that backfire; all of a sudden no batsman knew how to play on a surface like the one at Nottingham in the Ashes series last year because they were being subjected to lifeless pitches at home.

 

 

The WACA in early evening sunlight during last year’s World Cup.

 

Due to the lack of obvious talent in Australia’s young batting stocks at the time CA asked for flatter wickets.

Sure, there has been a clear improvement in young batsmen in Australia and this recent Shield match was a good indication of that, with all four centurions aged between 22 and 26, they aren’t being prepared for the rigours of Test match cricket in an adequate enough manner.

Plus, what is wrong with letting each Australian ground keep its own unique individual characteristics? Perth and Brisbane are made for the fast men, Sydney and Adelaide spin in the second innings, while Melbourne and Hobart offer variable pitches than can suit batsmen or bowlers on any given day.

Instead, now highway after highway is rolled out at every Australian venue. Who would want to be a bowler anymore among the youngsters of today?

A case in point is this summer’s Test match in Perth, which saw 1672 runs scored in the match at an average of four runs to the over. There were big double centuries for David Warner (253) and Ross Taylor (290) as well as centuries for Usman Khawaja, Kane Williamson, Steve Smith and Adam Voges.

Despite the fast paced scoring, the game never looked like having a winner by the end of the five days. With first innings scores of 559 and 624, the game was always destined for a draw. No wonder firebrand quick Mitch Johnson retired after the match. His favourite pitch for fast bowling was dead.

In a Former Life: Former WACA curator Cameron Sutherland prepares a Test match pitch. SOURCE: PerthNow.

 

With Perth’s new 60,000 seat stadium almost complete, the WACA is quickly becoming redundant. Marquee test matches will be played at the new venue, leaving Shield cricket and a few meaningless Tests against weaker nations only for the beleaguered cricket ground.

So long, WACA. It’s been a great deal of fun watching fast bowlers run in and terrorise batsmen for years on your world famous wicket, but it’s over now. Batsman can now come forward comfortably, knowing the ball won’t sail past their nose and halfway to the boundary, hitting the keepers gloves at shoulder height.

Centuries are more regular than five wicket hauls, 5/300 an average first day score rather than a 12-14 wicket day for around 250. There’s a skerrick of a chance of the old WACA raising itself from the dead, but I wouldn’t hold my breath.

So goodbye WACA, I’ll treasure the old memories forever. Rest in Peace.

1899-2016.

Dead and Buried: WACA curator Matt Page prepares the eventual pitch for this summer’s Australia v New Zealand test match. SOURCE: ABC.

 

Jacob Landsmeer is a sports commentator for Frontier Sports Media and writes here at zombiecrowscricket. He is a recent broadcasting graduate from Edith Cowan University. Follow him on Twitter: @jlandsme_93

Australia v South Africa Series Preview: Aussies Face Stern Challenge from Proteas on Home Soil

It’s been the best part of four years since the Australian cricket team lost a test match at home. Three summers have passed since South Africa spoilt Ricky Ponting’s final test match with a 309 run thumping at the WACA, Sri Lanka, England, India, New Zealand and West Indies all making the plane flight down under and back without securing a test match victory.

It seems only fitting then that the Proteas return to commence the 2016-17 Australian home test summer at a ground they have never lost at, cricket fans desperately hoping to see a competitive series after a dispiritingly dull 2015-16 season that barely saw Steve Smith’s side challenged in the six test matches they played.

They certainly will be this time around, the visitors boasting a fearsome pace attack and a solid batting line-up, although they are missing captain and middle order lynchpin AB DeVilliers, ruled out of the series with an elbow injury.

After a horror tour of Sri Lanka which saw the Aussies lose every test convincingly and an ODI series whitewash at the hands of the Proteas in South Africa last month, the home side looks as vulnerable in their own conditions as they have in some time.

NIGHTMARE WINTER: Australia were humiliated by Sri Lanka in the subcontinent in July/August. SOURCE: Indian Express.

Debate remains over the makeup of the Australian side, whether to pick six bona fide batsmen or stick with 5 batsmen and an all-rounder at six. The issue remains unresolved mainly due to the indifferent performances of incumbent Mitchell Marsh, who has underperformed at test level in the past year or so.

With a lack of standout all-round options to replace him at domestic level, Marsh gets a chance to prove himself once again, despite averaging just 24 with the bat and 36 with the ball in tests. Should he fail to fire in this series, the selectors may have no choice but to revert to six batsmen.

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Wicketkeeper Peter Nevill is also under pressure to contribute with the bat, having failed to pass 50 in his previous 10 innings. His highest score on the disastrous tour of Sri Lanka was just 24, although he was far from the only one to struggle on the dry spinning tracks produced in that series.

Reliable with the gloves, the Victorian born Nevill averages 37.88 in first class cricket, currently 17 more than what he averages in the baggy green. While Australian fans are used to keeper-batsmen of the class of players such as Ian Healy, Adam Gilchrist and Brad Haddin, Nevill is still finding his feet with the bat at test match level.

UNDER PRESSURE: Peter Nevill is in need of runs with the bat this summer to justify his place in the side. SOURCE: ABC. 

Australia’s top order remains far from solid also, Shaun Marsh given the nod to open alongside David Warner; Joe Burns the unlucky casualty having scored 170 only three tests ago. Warner enjoys the WACA, averaging 95.85 at the venue with a high score of 253, made in the high scoring draw against New Zealand last summer.

Much like his younger sibling Marsh has been afforded numerous opportunities at test level, but the 33 year old is in career best form with centuries in his previous two tests. Scores of 73 and 110 in the recent Sheffield Shield outing against South Australia confirmed his place. He will still need to perform well against a strong Proteas attack with Burns making runs at Shield level.

A lot of pressure remains on Steve Smith at number 4 to deliver for his team. While averaging 67 in his home country, he is yet to play a test against South Africa in Australia. Usman Khawaja needs to produce the kind of form he did against mediocre attacks last summer in order to keep his place at number 3.

NEEDING TO LEAD FROM THE FRONT: Steve Smith is dominant in home conditions, and will need to be so again this summer for his team to beat South Africa. SOURCE: BBC.

Adam Voges had a stellar start to his test career, even pushing his batting average in to three figures on the February tour to New Zealand. But his struggles on the tour of Sri Lanka and his age (he turned 37 last month) means he is always in danger of losing his place, rightly or wrongly.  At the comforts of his home ground the WACA, he has a chance to immediately silence the doubters, most of who are on the eastern seaboard.

The Australian bowling attack was a pretty straightforward task at selection, a fit again Mitch Starc, Josh Hazlewood and spinner Nathan Lyon all first choice selections. Joe Mennie has been included in the squad, but Peter Siddle has been given the nod as the third fast bowler for the first test.

Starc is perhaps the key player in the series, capable of blasting through any top order in international cricket with pace and late swing. Coming off an injury stricken twelve months, he is likely to be underdone at first but will still be the key man for the Proteas to stop.

MITCH WINNER: Mitchell Starc returns from injury to spearhead the Australian bowling attack. SOURCE: Indian Express. 

Hazlewood and Siddle are capable on their day of running through a batting line up, while Lyon is a terrific bowler in home conditions with his variants of pace and flight.

South Australian Mennie debuted on the disastrous ODI tour of South Africa, but has a solid first class record since debuting in 2011, with 158 wickets at 26. With three tests in three weeks, he is likely to be called upon at some stage in the series.

The last time the South Africans toured in 2012-13, they were the number one test team in world cricket. Under the leadership of Graeme Smith, they were strong in all conditions, home or abroad. Jacques Kallis was still the best all-rounder in international cricket, while in Hashim Amla and AB DeVilliers they had a match winning middle order.

FLASHBACK: South Africa celebrate the dismissal of Michael Hussey at the WACA in 2012. SOURCE: Fox Sports.

That tour saw the arrival of now skipper Du Plessis, making a defiant century in the second test at Adelaide to save the match. Four years later he returns as captain to lead a vastly different looking Proteas side, who now sit in fifth spot on the ICC test rankings. Smith and Kallis are both retired, and DeVilliers hasn’t made the trip due to his injury.

33 year old Stephen Cook and Dean Elgar are the new look opening combination, Elgar having bagged a pair on debut in Perth four years ago. He has matured in to a solid opening batsman since then, averaging 36 at the top of the order. Cook has waited more than a decade for an opportunity at test level, making a memorable century on debut against England in January this year.

Amla remains the lynchpin of the batting line-up at number three, averaging over 50 across close to 100 tests. He made a sublime 196 in Perth last time around and is a joy to watch. His wristy strokeplay is close to unparalleled, regal through the offside and glorious off his pads. He is hard to bowl to, taking a leg stump guard but equally efficient on both sides of the wicket.

THE MIGHTY HASH: Hashim Amla celebrates his century at the WACA in 2012. SOURCE: News Limited.

26 year old Temba Bavuma gets his first taste in Australian conditions, the 165 cm batsman hoping to use his height (or lack thereof) to his advantage on the bouncy Australian pitches. JP Duminy gets a chance with the injury to De Villiers, having failed to prove himself at test level since debuting in Australia back in 2008. Having made a brilliant 166 in his second test at the MCG, he has failed to realise his potential since, averaging just 32 in 36 test matches.

Du Plessis will slot in to the number four position like his Australian counterpart Smith, keen to lead from the front with the bat. Incredibly he was dropped from the South African side at the end of last summer, only to earn a recall when DeVilliers was ruled out of the home series against New Zealand in August. Without DeVilliers the batting order looks fragile, so Du Plessis and Amla will need to call on all of their experience to succeed in this series.

MEMORABLE DEBUT: Faf Du Plessis walks off the Adelaide Oval after his match saving century in his first test in 2012. SOURCE: The Australian.

Young gun wicketkeeper batsman Quinton DeKock has had a superb start to the tour, with scores of 122 and 99 in the two warm up matches in Adelaide last month. An aggressive left handed batsman much in the mould of Adam Gilchrist, DeKock looks ready to take the test cricket world by storm. Will be the pivotal link between the middle order and tail that could contribute vital runs to the cause.

The bowling attack remains similar to the 2012-13 tour, with Dale Steyn, Morne Morkel and Vernon Philander all part of the squad. They have added pacy youngster Kagiso Rabada to their fast bowling armoury, having burst on to the international scene over the past twelve months.

Steyn and Philander are getting back to their best form after missing much of the 2015-16 season through injury. Steyn has regained his pace after a shoulder ailment, while Philander remains a superb wicket to wicket bowler who seams the ball both in and away from the batsman. Morkel is coming off back surgery, but will enjoy the pace and bounce of the WACA.

A GREAT OF THE GAME: Dale Steyn will be a fearsome proposition to Australia’s batsmen this summer. SOURCE: Cricket Country.

The Proteas have picked two uncapped spinners in their squad, left arm orthodox spinner Keshav Maharaj and left arm chinaman Tabraiz Shamsi the options for the selectors if they feel the need for a frontline spinner. In Elgar and Duminy they have two handy part time spinners, but either Maharaj or Shamsi is likely to play some part in the second or third tests.

While both teams have strong enough batting line ups capable of firing on any given day, the performances of the bowlers on the respective sides is likely to decide the series.

The Proteas have won the past two tests at the WACA and will be confident of getting the series off to a perfect start, but the Australians remain tough to beat in their home conditions. The second test sees the teams off to Hobart, a venue where the visitors are yet to play a test match.

BRIGHT YOUNG TALENT: Quinton De Kock looks a player with a big future at international level for the Proteas over the next decade. SOURCE: CricWizz.

Conditions are variable at the venue, often friendly enough for the pace bowlers but flat at times too for the batsmen. Similar to the South African venue in Cape Town (with a mountain view to match) Blundstone Arena is often dependant on cloud cover for the ball to swing. When the sun is out, the batsmen tend to shine.

The third test sees the second day night test match in as many summers at the Adelaide Oval. While this concept is still very much in it’s infant stages, it is tough to know how this game might play out. If it’s anything like last year it will favour the bowlers, with plenty of grass on the wicket and the ball doing more under lights. Hopefully the series is still alive one way or another come the third test so the series can deliver a memorable conclusion.

BIG LOSS: AB DeVilliers will miss the series against Austalia with an elbow injury. SOURCE: Cricket Country.

After a couple of forgettable test summers, this series should kick off an enjoyable 2016-17 test season. With Pakistan to follow over the Christmas and New Year period, it promises to be a tantalising summer of cricket.

TEST SERIES

November 3-7- 1^st Test, WACA.

November 12-16- 2^nd Test, Hobart.

November 24-28- 3^rd Test, Adelaide Oval.

SERIES PREDICTION: 1-1

MAN OF THE SERIES: Hashim Amla (RSA).

ALL SMILES FOR NOW: Captains Steve Smith and Faf Du Plessis pose with the series trophy ahead of the first test match at the WACA. SOURCE: Twitter. 

By Jacob Landsmeer.

Jacob Landsmeer is a sports commentator for Frontier Sports Media and writes here at zombiecrowscricket. He is a broadcasting graduate from Edith Cowan University. Follow him on Twitter: @jlandsme_93