\n<\/p>\n
Mitchell Starc has admitted that Australia\u2019s players are upset at the decision to shift the opening Ashes Test from its traditional home of Brisbane\u2019s Gabba \u2013 nicknamed \u201cthe Gabbatoir\u201d because of its reputation as the graveyard of touring sides, and a ground where England have won just two of their last 20 games dating back to 1946 \u2013 to Perth Stadium.<\/p>\n
Asked whether his side could expect to enjoy a similar advantage at the game\u2019s new home, Starc said: \u201cWe\u2019ll find out in a week, won\u2019t we? They don\u2019t listen to the players, we would have liked to start in Brisbane, too.\u201d England\u2019s Gus Atkinson meanwhile said that though \u201cthere are no scars for me\u201d from his country\u2019s previous failures in Brisbane given he is a first-time Ashes tourist, \u201chistory would say it\u2019s probably a good thing we\u2019re not starting at the Gabba\u201d.<\/p>\n
But Isaac McDonald, chief curator at Perth Stadium, has defended the decision, saying that Perth\u2019s relative proximity to England makes it a sensible first stop, and adding that he is enjoying the extra attention that comes with hosting the first game of a marquee series.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve actually opened the last four summers here,\u201d McDonald says. \u201cSo we\u2019ve been the first Test of the summer for the last four years. You get all the first-game hype regardless who it is \u2013 I thought last year with the Indian touring team that it was crazy but this is a whole new level, being in the Ashes. In some ways it\u2019s pretty cool that we are the first because it does have that extra little hype, but being a direct flight from the UK to Perth it kind of makes sense that it is the first one. Just being around town you can tell there\u2019s a lot of travellers here that have come from the UK to watch this game, so it\u2019s going to be really cool to kick it off.\u201d<\/p>\n
One complication for McDonald is the fact that the first Test starts less than three weeks after Perth Stadium hosted a concert by the rock band Metallica, held just days after the drop-in wicket had been installed. \u201cThe wicket came out of the concerts unscathed, with no scarring, and having the run-in after the concert leading into this game was perfect timing \u2013 it gave us enough time to get moisture back through the profile and get us into a really confident spot leading into the first day of preparation.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/span>Cameron Green bowls during an Australia cricket team training session at Perth Stadium.<\/span> Photograph: Dave Hunt\/EPA<\/p>\n Australia have won four of their five games at Perth Stadium, which replaced the nearby WACA as host of the Western Australia\u2019s Test matches after the 2017 Ashes, with their only defeat coming against India last year, when 17 wickets fell on a chaotic first day before the wicket flattened. \u201cI miss the WACA,\u201d Starc said. \u201cThe Fremantle Doctor [the cooling afternoon breeze] comes in. It\u2019s swirly wind here, not one direction. You can have three directions each over.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had five different wickets here in a sense \u2013 we\u2019ve had a pretty slow, flat wicket against the West Indies, we had the first Test here where it cracked up and played a bit like the WACA used to. Last year we saw lots of wickets on the first day. There\u2019s been a fair bit made about the colour of it, that it\u2019s going to be a green mamba \u2013 it\u2019s all good and well to look at the wicket, but until both teams have played on it we\u2019re not really sure what it\u2019s going to do.\u201d<\/p>\n McDonald has moved all his preparations this year forward one day, in an attempt to avoid the scenes witnessed on the first day last year. \u201cThe curator, no matter what the outcome of the game, always reflects and on reflection maybe I was a day late on the prep,\u201d he says of that India game. \u201cSo we\u2019ve knuckled down and we started a day early to ensure that the firmness is there and the characteristics of our WACA pitch, the pace and bounce, are going to be there on day one.\u201d<\/p>\n The Test will be contested on the same drop-in pitch that was used in the India match and all five previous Tests here, which has spent the winter recuperating just outside the ground. \u201cIt just seems to have the best characteristics, so why change something that\u2019s working really well?\u201d McDonald says.<\/p>\n skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Subscribe to our cricket newsletter for our writers’ thoughts on the biggest stories and a review of the week\u2019s action<\/p>\n Privacy Notice: <\/strong>Newsletters may contain information about charities, online ads, and content funded by outside parties. If you do not have an account, we will create a guest account for you on theguardian.com to send you this newsletter. You can complete full registration at any time. For more information about how we use your data see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.<\/span><\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Despite the wildness of the first day last year\u2019s pitch was rated as \u201cvery good\u201d by the International Cricket Council, the highest possible ranking. At the time Cricket Australia\u2019s head of cricket operations said: \u201cWe don\u2019t look to prepare wickets that favour the home side or suit our situation in a series. What we seek is a good contest between bat and ball and pitches that are likely to produce a result.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Perth Stadium curator Isaac McDonald pulls the covers off the pitch.<\/span> Photograph: Dave Hunt\/AAP<\/p>\n McDonald insists that he had received \u201cabsolutely no directives from anyone ever \u2013 that just doesn\u2019t happen\u201d and is fully focused on delivering the seam-friendly conditions that Tests both at the WACA and at Perth Stadium are known for. \u201cLow and slow is just not possible \u2013 West Test is pace and bounce and that\u2019s what we\u2019re gonna stick to,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ve really knuckled down with ensuring that\u2019s spot on from day one to ensure that even battle.\u201d<\/p>\n But the 28-year-old admits that, as Starc suggested, he will not be sure how the pitch will play until it has been played on, forcing him to endure a tortuous wait for validation \u2013 or ignominy. \u201cFriday morning is the slowest,\u201d he says. \u201cI get here normally around 5.30am on matchdays, so that\u2019s a slow, slow five-hour sit-around for me. Once the toss is done and I can\u2019t roll any longer or take any more grass out I park myself up, and the national anthems seem like they go on for minutes and minutes. It\u2019s probably more excitement than dreading what\u2019s coming, but you can be as confident as you like, until you\u2019re an hour into actual play you just don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mitchell Starc has admitted that Australia\u2019s players are upset at the decision to shift the opening Ashes Test from its traditional home of Brisbane\u2019s Gabba \u2013 nicknamed \u201cthe Gabbatoir\u201d because of its reputation as the graveyard of touring sides, and a ground where England have won just two of their last 20 games dating back<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34400,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[16527,346,19564,1294,19563,15321,1496,19562,6611],"class_list":{"0":"post-34399","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-ashes","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-gabbatoir","11":"tag-move","12":"tag-openers","13":"tag-perth","14":"tag-players","15":"tag-starc","16":"tag-upset"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34399"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34399\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/34400"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}