MCG’s ‘undeniable’ commercial case for Perth’s Ashes Test

Melbourne has an “undeniable” case to host a day-night fifth Ashes Test should Cricket Australia’s calculations come down to money, Victoria’s Sports Minister Martin Pakula has declared.

After Perth’s hopes nosedived when the West Australian Premier Mark McGowan asserted his unwillingness to allow the partners and families of Australia and England players and staff to travel – having already insisted on a 14-day quarantine period for all members of the touring caravan – Pakula made a strong case for the MCG.

The MCG is keen to host two Ashes Tests this summer.Credit:Justin McManus

“The Victorian government has certainly made it clear to Cricket Australia that if the Perth Test is unable to go ahead that we’d be not just prepared to host the fifth Test but very keen to host the fifth Test,” Pakula said on Wednesday.

“I’ve spoken to Cricket Australia and they’ve got a decision to make, firstly about whether they go with Perth … and if they can’t get to Perth and it’s a commercial decision then I think the MCG’s claims are pretty close to undeniable. We will wait and see, but Cricket Australia is well aware of our interest.”

As reported by The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald, the revenue numbers for a major MCG Test match, circa $20-22 million, outstrip any other ground in the country. They also run second only to the AFL grand final, which can generate as much as $30 million, for the windfall from a single sporting event.

CA’s chief executive Nick Hockley and the governing body’s board must decide whether to make a commercial choice at a time when they are tackling a pair of significant revenue holes, from India and UK broadcast rights, in addition to the extra costs of biosecurity in the time of COVID-19.

Their alternative path is to honour a tradition of federalism, whereby all six states are given a reasonable share of major matches regardless of how population, attendance or commercial numbers stack up.

That has certainly been the case with past matches awarded to Hobart’s Bellerive Oval, a picturesque venue that has struggled to draw viable Test match crowds and has not hosted a red-ball international since 2016.

Tony Shepherd, chair of Venues New South Wales and the SCG Trust, echoed the words of the NSW major events minister Stuart Ayres that Sydney would also be open to stepping into Perth’s place. However, Shepherd acknowledged the many factors that CA must consider.

Among those will be the relative merits of hosting back-to-back Tests at the SCG, stretching the ground staff in pitch preparation and also flooding the Sydney market so far as Test cricket is concerned. A Melbourne-Sydney-Melbourne conclusion to the Ashes, by contrast, would leave a clear 10 days between MCG games.

“We’re happy to help cricket in any way we can, we’ve made it clear to them we’d be happy to participate if that’s what works for them,” Shepherd told SEN. “Certainly the SCG would be ready for it. We helped cricket last year when the Indian Tests got into a few problems and we filled the gap for them, and more than happy to do that again if we have to.

“It’s up to Cricket Australia, it’s their call, and they’ll make that based on logistics, where they get the most revenue, all that sort of thing.

“Cricket’s had a difficult time – I take my hat off to CA, I think they’ve done a great job to get the Tests going last year and getting the Ashes going this year. I don’t envy them the challenges they’ve faced, but I think they’ve done a magnificent job, and we’re all looking forward to the Ashes.

“Tasmania’s a very loyal cricket state and it’s produced some of Australia’s greatest cricketers … there’s a lot of things that they have to take into account in making that difficult decision.“

Newly arrived in the country for a stint on the coaching staff of the Hobart Hurricanes, the former England top order batter Ian Bell did not hide his enthusiasm for the idea of a possible Ashes decider dropping into his lap in Tasmania. “On a selfish note I’d love that to happen in Hobart,” he said.

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