Leading into the first Test, Cricket Australia has been urged to show Western Australia fans some love after a stormy few years when the state was sidelined from the Test calendar and angered by the ousting of favourite son Justin Langer as national coach.
Perth’s Optus Stadium is expecting a venue record crowd for the first Test of this summer’s blockbuster series against India, but the ghosts of recent battles between Western Australia and Cricket Australia still linger.
Should attendances meet McKenna’s expectations, it would eclipse the previous Optus Stadium best of 81,104 set at the venue’s inaugural Test in 2018, also against India, when Tim Paine’s team, missing Steve Smith and David Warner, won on the fifth day.WA cricket officials have come under fire for their Test crowds after match attendances of 59,125 last season and 42,723 the year before against Pakistan and the West Indies respectively.
CA’s announcement in August Perth would host the first Test for the next three years has gone some way to rebuilding head office’s relationship with WA.Dec 2022: Australia defeated West Indies by 164 runsRelations were strained during the pandemic when the state did not host a Test against India in 2020/21 or England the following summer due in large part to the WA government’s hardline biosecurity measures to keep out COVID-19.
The Australia XI thrashed by Pakistan included just three players from the team that defeated India in the World Cup final 12 months ago. Former captain Michael Clarke was highly critical of the withdrawals. “We’re encouraging CA to do what they can to treat the people of WA with a bit of love” McKenna told this masthead.
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