Western Australian Cricket Association Ground To Host Final Ashes Test On Thursday

A ground "rich with cricketing history but wanting of modern comforts will take its final Ashes bow" when Australia hosts England in the third test at the Western Australian Cricket Association Ground on Thursday, according to Joel Dubber of REUTERS. Future Ashes contests will be held at the "shiny, new Perth Stadium on the opposite bank of the Swan River," a 60,000-seat arena that will use a drop-in pitch, host rock concerts and share tenancy with two Australian Football League teams. The 22,000-capacity WACA will remain a cricket venue but only host "lower-profile" internationals, "having fallen behind the standards of rival stadiums around the country." England may also be "happy to move on" from a venue where it has won "only once in nearly 50 years of tests." As "forgettable as the WACA experience has been for England," it has been "mostly glorious" for Australia, and the backdrop for some "classic, comical and quite bizarre Ashes moments since the first test between the teams" in '70 (REUTERS, 12/11).