Test legends go in to bat for Mark McGowan

Two legends of West Australian cricket have thrown their support behind Mark McGowan’s handling of the Ashes Test impasse.

Former Australian Test cricket captain Kim Hughes. Picture: Marie Nirme

Two legends of West Australian cricket have thrown their support behind Mark McGowan’s handling of the Ashes Test impasse.

Former Test captain Kim Hughes and wicketkeeping great Adam Gilchrist have both expressed sympathy for the Premier and his management of the border stand-off.

Cricket Australia on Monday announced that Perth had been stripped of the fifth Test after complying with WA’s quarantine requirements was deemed too big an ask, costing WA its major cricket fixture for a second straight year.

Hughes told The Australian he did not believe the loss of the Test would hurt support for Mr McGowan or WA’s hard border position, saying life for him and his fellow West Australians had barely changed during the Covid pandemic.

“I’m not Labor or Liberal, but Mark McGowan has done an incredible job. We’ve been the safest place in the world and our lives have not been affected by it. I have empathy for those who have had weddings or funerals affected but apart from that, our lives have not changed,” he said.

“He’s shown some leadership, and like it or not he has been strong and consistent across the board. And for God’s sake, why would you want to follow some of the leadership that Canberra’s showing?”

Hughes, the first West Australian to captain Australia, said Cricket Australia had made a ­mistake from the outset by not playing the opening game at Perth Stadium instead of Brisbane’s Gabba. That would have allowed Eng­land to complete its two-week quarantine in WA and then move without restriction around the rest of the country.

And with rain forecast for four of the five days of the Gabba Test, it would have reduced the risk of potential weather disruptions.

“Quite frankly, it was messed up from the start because they should have landed here in Perth,” Hughes said.

Gilchrist said he felt for Mr McGowan, noting the Premier had a difficult choice between saving the Test and sticking with border restrictions that had successfully kept Covid out.

Mr McGowan – who like Gilchrist was born in NSW but found success in WA – has promised to set a date for the end of WA’s border regime when the state hits an 80 per cent double-vaccination rate, a milestone on track to be reached this week.

That could put the most likely reopening date as either late January or early February.

“It’s unfortunate that timing-wise, it’s probably only going to be two weeks too early, that Test match, for what we all expect might be, and hope will be, an opening up of the border,” Gilchrist said.

“I think we can all sit back and on balance have a lot of understanding for the Premier and the way he’s tried to handle it. Either way, you’re probably going to disappoint some people.”

The January 28 one-day international between Australia and New Zealand at Perth stadium shapes as the next potential logistic challenge.