Cricket Australia To Make $27M National Cricket Centre In Brisbane Available To English Squad

Cricket Australia has "back-flipped on a plan to ban Alastair Cook's Ashes squad" from using its A$29M ($27M) National Cricket Centre, which was opened in Brisbane Tuesday, according to Robert Craddock of NEWS LIMITED. Senior CA officials were "initially hoping to place the centre off limits to the English squad," which will arrive in Brisbane on Sunday for next week's "first Test at the Gabba." But with the "ever-present fear that Australian teams could get a rough deal when they wanted to use England's National Cricket Academy in Loughborough and the acceptance that other nations are technically allowed to use the venue," Australia decided it would not object to England using the center "if it is not booked." Here's "the catch -- it is booked, very heavily." So far the English squad has not requested "use of the venue though schedules often change in Brisbane's fickle weather" (NEWS LIMITED, 11/12).