At the same time South Australia and its cricket association argues for a Test match slot of their choice, Avril Fahey has quietly been doing likewise for Western Australia.
A former off spin bowler for Australia and WA over a career spanning some 20 years, she has brought plenty of cricket nous to the conversation. After a period of some turmoil in the west last year, Fahey became the first ever female chair of a state or Cricket Australia.
While the SACA has argued forcefully for a Test match spot commensurate with the drawing power of Adelaide Oval, Fahey’s push has been for equity, to rebuild the international cricket audience in WA after two years’ absence through COVID-19, and then a poor turnout for the West Indies Test at Optus Stadium last November.
Perth’s Optus Stadium during this summer’s Test against West Indies.Credit:Getty
CA’s board directors are to meet next week to finalise the program. So far, it looks as though WA’s argument to host the first Test of the summer, at Optus Stadium against Pakistan in mid-December, has held sway.
“Pakistan’s coming with the West Indies again, so I’m pretty hopeful we don’t get the West Indies,” Fahey told this masthead. “But it’s about making sure we have an opportunity to deliver something for the fans in Perth.
“In WA cricket we’ve had some concerns around scheduling and the like, the Wednesday start in November, West Indies, a lot of things there make it really challenging for us to drive attendance. A number of our members have written to me about how disappointed they are with the scheduling we’ve received.
“I had the chance to go to the Adelaide Test and it was a really fantastic, destination Test match in Adelaide, as is the Boxing Day Test. We understand our obligation around making the Perth Test something special and to be a destination Test, and we’d like to make sure we’re managing that relationship, so CA is also open to the concept of working with us on that.“
Among vast amounts of correspondence she has received after taking the chair of WA Cricket when Tuck Waldron resigned abruptly last winter – amid arguments between various groups about cricket’s push for greater diversity in the west – Fahey opened one email declaring WA should steal Melbourne’s Boxing Day Test.
“It’s not as simple as saying ‘why don’t we have a Boxing Day Test’, which was a member suggestion that came into me,” she laughed. “But it’s about understanding what we’re all trying to achieve. We had England playing here in the one-day format as well straight after the World Cup, and that was almost like a throwaway game.
“We’ve got to try and make sure that as a sport we’re working collaboratively across the macro picture, not just working in our own sphere. I’m hopeful that we can continue to do that, and it’s very much about how can we balance the commercial realities, which is really important for us all, but also with that opportunity for fans to get a really good experience.“
Avril Fahey’s WA career spanned 20 years.Credit:Getty Images
And even as WA and SA appear to be duelling for the same Test match in December next summer, Fahey admitted that Adelaide Oval’s move towards a more rounded experience is exactly where her state needs to get to: a redeveloped and better appointed WACA that comfortably houses 12,000 spectators rather than cramming in twice that number.
“Test cricket is an experience, it’s not just a ball by ball scenario,” she said. “There’s no doubt the traditional ‘sit in the sun and don’t move for six hours’ is a model we’ve got to change. Perth Stadium is a fantastic venue. Could we activate it like they do in Adelaide? Probably not, but there are other things we have to offer here.
“I don’t think any of us want to have 24,000 sitting in the baking sun at a Test match at the WACA. But even a New Zealand Test match may end up being played at the WACA, getting 12,000 people in for a newly developed ground might be hugely beneficial to CA and ourselves, and to the fans who have that experience, and even the players.“
The colour and mood of the Ashes Test at the WACA in 2017.Credit:Getty Images
Fahey has happy memories of bowling at the ground, with its helpful breeze for spinners to loop the ball into. One of her other roles is as a women’s national selector. One of the forces driving Fahey in leading the state association – alongside chief executive Christina Matthews – is the knowledge that many of her generation did not get that chance.
“As a woman who grew up in the 1970s and 80s whose dad had to go down and ask permission for his daughter to play junior boys cricket, I’m thrilled the world has changed,” Fahey said. “WA recently produced an over 40s women’s side to compete in the national veterans championship and I heard them say ‘I was never allowed to play cricket when I was a young girl and it’s so great I now get a chance as a 40-year-old’.
“That really breaks my heart, because I think of all the opportunities I had, maybe, because my dad went down and had that discussion at the local club for me. For women, for Aboriginal programs as well, we need to make sure we’re opening the door for kids who never felt cricket was a place for them. We don’t grow the game by restricting access to it – you don’t shrink to greatness.”
Unbeaten: Mitchell Marsh and Steve Smith leave the field at stumps at the WACA in 2017.Credit:AAP
That vision, and the means by which to achieve it, were at the forefront of the board battles that saw Waldron and four other directors exit WA cricket last year, including former players Mike Veletta and Graeme Wood. John Inverarity and Brad Hogg have subsequently joined, and Fahey spoke passionately about striking the right balance.
One of the ironies about the disconnection with some conservative elements, who pine for a return to WA’s “glory days” of the 1970s and 80s when the state won 12 Sheffield Shield titles in 24 years, is that the current administration has overseen a return to major on-field success for the Warriors and the Perth Scorchers in the Big Bash League.
“I shy away from it being called ‘progressive’ because I just think this is the world we’re living in,” she said. “It’s not only our members that expect us to be prudent in the way we manage our organisation, it is the expectation of fans of cricket, of our commercial partners, our potential sponsors, our donors. They do want us to be an organisation that is open, diverse and inclusive.
”We need leaders who are recognising that we need to keep growing and the markets we need to grow in are cricket for women and girls, cricket for people with a disability, Aboriginal people. One of my former teammates, her daughter is playing under 11s, and I went down and helped her out with a coaching session. The majority of those girls were from Sri Lankan and Indian backgrounds, their parents were born in Australia, but they love the game.
Avril Fahey is appealing for WA’s case to host premium Test matches.Credit:Getty
“We need to be providing opportunities for these girls, these families and this community to be involved, because it’s a great game, and the more the better. Because we’ve got this structural thing where people don’t feel welcome or haven’t felt welcome, because they haven’t seen others who look like them or reflect them. The old saying is you cannot be what you cannot see, and I think we’re starting to change that.“
Tellingly, Fahey’s generation of cricketers is having a huge influence on the direction of the game. To a degree at least that is in contrast with how few of her male cricketing peers have made the same decisions to move into administration.
“I stand on the shoulder of a number of female trailblazers,” Fahey said. “My first Test match was Christina’s last Test. She was my first roommate on tour, so we’ve known each other for a very long time. She was an assistant coach when I was playing for Australia as well.
“Not to say we always agree with each other – Christina can get on the front foot a bit, which is good, but there’s a lot of people who transition out of elite sport into business, and some of our skills are exceptionally transferrable. My ability to compartmentalise and manage my time is one of those things I lean on.
“When I think about the team, particularly from 1997 to 2000, that group has changed the game for women. Christina was in and around that mix, Belinda Clark, Lisa Keightley, Mel Jones, Julia Price, Lisa Sthalekar. We’re talking about a lot of women who were able to continue to volunteer or work in the game, and continue to help it evolve.”
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