New stadium pays tribute to old WACA

Australia's soon-to-be newest Test ground, Perth Stadium, has paid a unique tribute to the WACA Ground as the mantle of Western Australia’s premier cricket venue was unofficially handed over on Tuesday.

The new Burswood stadium's maiden first-class match began on Tuesday with WA hosting New South Wales, a vital test run for the ground ahead of its first ever Test match, the second Domain Test between Australia and India, which gets underway on December 14.

In a clever nod to the ground across the Swan River that has hosted 44 Tests since 1970, Perth Stadium has recreated the WACA's historic scoreboard for the JLT Sheffield Shield clash.

What at first glance appears to be an exact replica of the vintage WACA scoreboard, a feature as intrinsically linked to the old ground as its bouncy pitches, is in fact a digital recreation displayed on the state-of-the-art stadium's huge 340-square-metre big screens.

The idea to honour the old ground is understood to have come from one of the Western Australian Cricket Association's digital staff.

The WACA Ground's old manual scoreboard, a donation from the North West Murchison Cricket Association that was erected in 1954, would have up to eight people operating it for international fixtures.

While this week is Perth Stadium's first major foray into red-ball cricket, the ground has already hosted two one-day internationals – against England in January and then South Africa earlier this month – while the Perth Scorchers sold out their KFC Big Bash semi-final against Hobart Hurricanes last summer.

WACA chief executive Christina Matthews said earlier this year that most Perth Tests will be hosted at Optus Stadium in the coming years, although ODIs could still be held at the WACA Ground.

The ongoing Shield match is the only game WA are scheduled to play at Optus Stadium this season, but the Scorchers' will play all seven of their home matches there.

Curator Brett Sipthorpe said he wanted to get some of the WACA Ground's trademark pace and bounce into the drop-in pitches at the new ground for the WA-NSW clash.

"Hopefully this one bounces and flies for the first couple of days, and then starts to get a bit interesting with some cracking," Sipthorpe said ahead of the Shield match.

"It would be good to know if it's going to do that over an extended period."

- with AAP