WACA faces substantial loss from pitch debacle

The Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) stands to lose more than $A20,000 in the wake of the events that caused yesterday's Mercantile Mutual Cup match between Western Australia and Queensland in Perth to be abandoned after just five overs of play.

WACA Chief Executive Officer, Mike Allenby, has confirmed this afternoon that his Association faces a substantial loss as a result of the joint decision by the Match Referee, umpires and players to leave the field on account of a pitch assessed to be unsafe.

"About twenty or thirty thousand dollars," said Allenby when asked to estimate the magnitude of the revenue lost. "Which is substantial."

Although only a small crowd had made its way through the turnstiles at the WACA ground by the time that the match was brought to its brisk conclusion, the Association has given an undertaking to reimburse all patrons who purchased tickets. It also stands to surrender a multitude of other costs if the match is not replayed in Perth later in the season.

"We're in the hands of the ACB I think," surmised Allenby when asked to comment on the likelihood that the match could be rescheduled. "We will talk with the QCA (the Queensland Cricket Association); we'd like to get it rescheduled here, certainly."

While admitting to feeling "disappointed" in the wake of yesterday's events, Allenby was quick to rule out suggestions that the poor condition of yesterday's pitch carried worrying implications about his organisation's readiness to stage the Second Test of this season's Australia-West Indies series in a fortnight's time.

"I don't think there is any doubt that we will keep hosting Test matches here. The characteristics of the soil give it the bounce and the speed that the wicket has. And that is why it (the Perth Test match) is a feature on the international Test circuit - because of that characteristic."