Perth Test officially moved, but where will it go?

No decision will be made on a new venue before the series begins, with Hobart, Sydney and Melbourne in the frame.

Perth’s Optus Stadium will again miss out on a Test match

The fifth Test has officially been moved from Perth but no decision will be made on where it will be played before the series begins.

Logistical difficulties around Western Australia’s border and quarantine regulations made it impossible for the Test to go ahead in Perth, with English and Australian players unwilling to do any further time in quarantine.

Cricket Australia has been exploring the logistics of moving the match to Hobart, where the Tasmanian government has offered to help out financially.

But there might actually be a bigger financial incentive to play a day-night Test at the MCG — or even in Sydney.

The decision is a massive blow to Western Australian cricket, which has helped build the most modern cricket facility of any capital city.

It was overlooked as a host of the Border Gavaskar series last summer and missed out when the Afghanistan Test was postponed.

South Australia had earlier slammed the door shut on Perth’s audacious bid to steal the second Test, issuing a blunt “hands off”.

Western Australia Government officials launched a desperate 11th hour bid on Sunday night to try to swap Tests with Adelaide in the knowledge that their fifth Test hosting rights were dead in the water.

The brazen last throw of the dice was based on the fact that the teams could get clear passage into WA from Queensland if Perth was to take the second Test from Adelaide, sidestepping the strict border restrictions.

But the brazen play has been brutally shut down by South Australia – adamant the second Test will proceed there next week despite recent concerns from their Government over the Omicron variant.

“The Second Ashes Test will proceed at Adelaide Oval in 10 days’ time. There has been no suggestion that a schedule change for the Adelaide Test will be considered,” said SACA acting chief executive, Jodie Newton.