Memories of the WACA, Perth.

[Arthur Crabtree]

There has been news that Cricket Australia will no longer allocate Tests to the world famous WACA from the 2018-19 season. At least not against the big draws, England, India and South Africa. And presumably, anyone else who should become a big draw. International games will be played at the Perth Stadium. There will be one more Ashes Test at the WACA. The capacity will drop to 15,000 and it will host state fixtures.

The WACA is home to the most famous 22 yards of earth in the game. The new ground will have a drop in pitch. It was residence to the most famous climate in the sport, the quaintly named Fremantle Doctor (I don't think the breeze at Wellington has a title...). The pace of the wicket has been one of the abiding characteristics of Australian cricket, and its loss feels like another little piece of the charm of cricket has gone.

The WACA is thought to be too small to be financially viable. And who knows, maybe the Perth Stadium will offer something unique and special. Cricket Australia says it will put fans first, and no doubt the Perth Stadium will be a more comfortable venue (not all the WACA was under cover), and maybe it won't develop a huge trench down the middle of the wicket on day three. But the Western Australia Cricket Association Ground will be missed.

[Arthur Crabtree]

One of my favourite series ever was the England Ashes tour of 1978-9. England won 5-1 against an Aussie team stripped of its Packer stars. It was an unusual tour, played on bowler friendly surfaces, prepared for the potent Australian fast bowlers, particularly the rapid Rodney Hogg. Hogg didn't do much with the ball, but the surfaces took care of that, and he was a fearsome proposition, taking 41 wickets in the six Tests at under thirteen. He was backed by Alan Hurst, who compiled 25 at 23.

It was a flawed plan, because England travelled with one of their best ever pace attacks: Willis, Hendrick and Botham. John Lever played at the WACA, took 5-48, and wasn't seen again. That was because Australia couldn't play off spin, not even the traditionally orthodox Geoff Miller and John Emburey, and they took 39 wickets in the series.

England won the first Test at the Gabba, largely thanks to their pacemen, and some brave batting from Derek Randall, who had his best series. At the WACA, the fourth Test ever played at the venue, Australia put England in, and Hogg soon had England 3-2, and then 34-3 with Brearley going after a hard fought, two hour 17. Most of the first innings batting was done by Geoff Boycott, who made 77 in seven and a half hours (SR 22.8!), and David Gower, whose 102 in extreme conditions was one of his best knocks. He batted for four and a quarter hours. Slow by today's standards, but his ability to get the ball away was highlighted against Geoffrey's cussedness at the other end.

England closed day one at 190-3. And that wasn't because of rain! It was a hot Perth day, and comfort probably not helped by the prototype helmets worn by the England batters (Gower had his own white model). It was a memorable partnership. Boycott was elderly looking for a sportsman, and at 38 was coming to the end of his career. He wasn't always popular in the England dressing room, and had little support when he had replaced Brearley as skipper in New Zealand the previous winter. But England liked his runs, and the bowlers appreciated his obstructiveness. There was something poignant about his knock. He often seemed to be bearing the weight of own surly contrariness, fiercely dedicated to scoring runs for their own sake. Balding, and a touch paunchy, taking on the scary pace of the young Hogg. It was slightly absurd to see this gentleman, still swaying and blocking, still resolutely serving the obligations of what remains only a game.

At the other end was the 21 year old David Gower, in his first year of international cricket. There was always something privileged about Gower's cricket. Perhaps exemplified by education at King's School, Canterbury (against Geoffrey's Hemsworth Grammar). Gower was lauded for hitting his first ball in Test cricket for four, and it was scarcely mentioned that it was off a looping long hop from the medium paced Pakistani bowler, Liaqat Ali. There was something decadent about his watercolour-blue eyes, with the slightly stoned look of Rubber Soul era The Beatles, and his insouciant strokeplay. What the meticulous Boycott would chip out in a day, Gower could achieve in a session.

And yet, in spite of everything that Boycott has done, it is he that I want to like more. It's his steadfastness and fallibility that I empathise with. Gower played a handful of knocks like this, and the 150 in Jamaica, which spoke of a sporting greatness that ultimately eluded him. Geoffrey was never as talented, but was unarguably the better player.


Geoff Miller hit forty valuable runs with the tail, and saw England to 309, really a huge total in the circumstances. Australia's 190 in reply was nearer par, and presumed golden boy Peter Toohey's 81 not out a fine knock. England's second innings 208, with no fifties, set Australia an impossible 328 to win, which they got nowhere near. The ball swung all game, and Lever's 4-28 snuffed out Australia's chase, with Geoff Miller and the Fremantle Doctor posting 3-21. The Australian innings was remarkable for neither of openers Geoff Wood and Rick Darling being run out. Rodney Hogg was Player of the Match for his ten wickets, which was really a testament to the value of Boycott and Gower's batting on day one.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Please add Perth recollections...

[Arthur Crabtree]

Perth didn't start off as a fortress for Australia, but from the great side that developed under Border onwards, they've been very strong there, though notably losing the West Indies at the start of that run, and more recently to South Africa. So, teams with great pace attacks, naturally.

Kings of the WACA.

Best Aussie batting averages, minimum 300 runs.

Dean Jones, 81.
Dave Warner, 79.
Michael Slater, 63.
Adam Gilchrist, 61.
Damien Martyn, 51.

Best tourist batting average, minimum 300 runs.

AB de Villiers, 84.
Hashim Amla, 77.
Geoff Boycott, 64.
Graeme Smith, 53.
David Gower, 52.

Highest run aggregates at the ground: Ricky Ponting, Allan Border, David Boon.


Best Aussie bowling strike rate, minimum 20 wickets.

Mitch Johnson, 27.
Merv Hughes, 36.
Jason Gillespie, 46.
Craig McDermott, 47.
Rodney Hogg, 50.

Best tourist strike rate, minimum 10 wickets.

Ian Bishop, 27.
Curtly Ambrose, 27.
Michael Holding, 33.
Richard Hadlee, 35.
Dale Steyn, 44.

Highest wicket takers: Glenn McGrath, Johnson, Brett Lee.

The highest wicket taker among spinners, with 37, Warne averaged 36 at the WACA. and though it has a reputation for being kind to off spinners, the most spectacular return was ten wickets in a match by Bishen Bedi. When we say off spinners, we really mean Bruce Yardley, who took 19 wickets at 26.

[Dr Cricket]

Although india did win a test match in 08.
Although in recent times it hasn't been the quickest wicket in Australia.

[GarlicJam]

How many tests did England win at the WACA, Arthur? Was '78 their only one?

Not surprising to see that the top 2 foreign run scorers and 3 of the top 4 were South African. Also not surprising that 3 of the 4 most deadly bowlers there were Windian. What is surprising that Lillee is not high on the list of strike rate and/or wicket tally.


Also, Bhaveshgor, Australia were in a state of shock for that WACA test.

[Arthur Crabtree]

DK had a good average of 27, but SR was 62. 30 wickets in seven matches. Surprised he played so many, as the WACA didn't always get a Test in the seventies.

Got a feeling England won at Perth in 85-6, but I'll check.

[Gingerfinch]

DK had a good average of 27, but SR was 62. 30 wickets in seven matches. Surprised he played so many, as the WACA didn't always get a Test in the seventies.

Got a feeling England won at Perth in 85-6, but I'll check.

I checked yesterday. They drew. I thought they won as well, as they beat those Aussies all day long that summer (sorry GJ).

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yes, a draw. England on top though.

[GarlicJam]

DK had a good average of 27, but SR was 62. 30 wickets in seven matches. Surprised he played so many, as the WACA didn't always get a Test in the seventies.

Got a feeling England won at Perth in 85-6, but I'll check.

I checked yesterday. They drew. I thought they won as well, as they beat those Aussies all day long that summer (sorry GJ).

Graeme Yallop captain?

I remember deciding not to remember this series.

[Gingerfinch]

DK had a good average of 27, but SR was 62. 30 wickets in seven matches. Surprised he played so many, as the WACA didn't always get a Test in the seventies.

Got a feeling England won at Perth in 85-6, but I'll check.

I checked yesterday. They drew. I thought they won as well, as they beat those Aussies all day long that summer (sorry GJ).

Graeme Yallop captain?

I remember deciding not to remember this series.

Border was skipper. It was 86-87.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yallop was captain in 78-9.

[GarlicJam]

Ah, slightly out there - told you I had disremembered it.

78/79 Ashes was the one I was thinking of - we got thrashed then, too. Brearley's series.

The 86/87 series, I went to the one day match they played in Kalgoorlie (against a WA XI, I think). An interesting day. Never went to the WACA, although I was working just near it for that test that Arthur wrote of. Could see some of the ground from a window on our floor. Not the pitch though.

[GarlicJam]

Yallop was captain in 78-9.

I was suffering digital dyslexia.

Which is also not knowing if I am holding up 3 fingers or 5 toes.

[Arthur Crabtree]

Yallop, after Simpson.

Then Hughes, with a series for Greg Chappell in there.

Then AB.