By Daniel Brettig
In what is looming as a photo finish between Hobart and Melbourne, the Cricket Australia chief executive Nick Hockley is expected to present his recommendation on the venue for the fifth Ashes Test to the board as soon as Friday.
Hockley, based in Sydney, spent much of Thursday in looking over the submissions of possible venues, weighing up their commercial, logistical and constitutional merits.
Melbourne is a strong chance to host the fifth Ashes Test under lights at the MCG.Credit: Getty Images
Tasmania’s claims to the final Test of the series, after Perth was ruled out due to Western Australia’s hard border and associated logistical problems, have been strong due to its loss of a match against Afghanistan this summer.
However the Victorian government and its major events minister Martin Pakula have made a strong bid to have the day-night match played at the MCG, citing an “undeniable” commercial case given the vast size of the ground and potential for a revenue return of more than $20 million.
While Hockley has been at pains to state the call for submissions had been run in order to be “fair to everyone”, some eyebrows have been raised in Tasmania at the fact that a tender process was needed at all. Test matches are traditionally distributed among the six member states year by year.
Sydney, Adelaide and Canberra have also been involved in the tender process put out to the states by CA at the start of the week, but Hockley’s final call is set to weigh up the commercial strength of a second match at the MCG in mid-January versus Cricket Tasmania’s constitutional standing as a one-sixth member of CA.
Broadcasters have made their preference for a Melbourne or Sydney finale clear, with the Fox Cricket commentator Adam Gilchrist talking up the need for the match to be played at an “iconic” Ashes venue.
Among Hockley’s many considerations will be questions like the availability of hotel accommodation for all the events, broadcast and media staff involved in the match, in addition to the two teams and match officials.
On Thursday Hockley rebuffed claims by the WA state government that the governing body had been inflexible and “poor” in their handling of the issue. “I think that is highly unfair,” Hockley told SEN Radio. “I think we’ve worked really constructively with governments right around the country throughout the last 18 months.
“In the end delivering a Test match is a massive logistical endeavour, a major event, five days, a huge number of production personnel and in the end it became pretty clear in the last 10 days it was just logistically not feasible. I haven’t seen those comments but they’re certainly not reflective of the discussions I’ve been part of.”
Hockley also pointed out the differences between the AFL’s relatively simple staging of this year’s grand final in Perth, and the myriad complexities of international cricket.
“People have made comparisons to the AFL. The AFL were able to put in an additional bye round and get those two weeks clear,” he said. “That wasn’t something that was possible. England have got further commitments beyond this and we only had a short gap between the fourth and the fifth Tests.
“I think we worked constructively with the stadium, with WA police to try to find solutions, which effectively created a 14-day very strict lockdown bubble. But in the end that would’ve prejudiced the broadcast in Sydney and made it very difficult in Perth. In the end it just became unfeasible.”
The Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, has stated his personal preference for a Hobart Ashes Test. “For there to be one in Tassie, I think would be great,” he said on Wednesday. “Particularly as the Afghanistan Test obviously didn’t proceed for clear reasons.”
Asked about Morrison’s comments, Hockley described the level of interest as commensurate with the “prestige” of an Ashes series.
“What that shows is the prestige, the history, how compelling an Ashes Test is, so we’ve tried to be fair to everyone, given everyone an opportunity,” he said. “We’ll be taking into account a range of considerations and ultimately it’s my job to put a recommendation to the board.”
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