The boss of Perth Stadium has argued that Australia and England should have played an extra match after the opening Ashes Test ended on the second day.
After record attendances across the two days, a crowd of 50,000 was expected for Sunday. The short finish is expected to have cost Cricket Australia in the region of AU$3-4 million in refunds and lost revenue, while for Perth itself it left the city short of high-profile cricket. It was the second-shortest result Test ever in Australia.
Mike McKenna, who was previously the inaugural boss of the Big Bash, has said that an extra match should have been arranged to compensate those with tickets.
"The question is - people pay for tickets - why wasn't there an opportunity to fill the space with another form of cricket?" he told Nine Newspapers. "They're paid performers, [on] a big stage, a group of 22 performers, an audience of 50,000 all with money to spend. Why wouldn't you take an opportunity?"
There is no chance the concept would even have been contemplated for a myriad of reasons, including getting players to agree to it.
"What's more important to cricket? Engaging fans or looking after player contracts?" McKenna said. "It's not delivering what the fans want. You have people who travelled for days and hours to get here, [and] pay a lot for accommodation. I think the average tourist spent seven days on accommodation in Perth. It's great to see the tourism sites, but they'd rather be seeing the cricket. If it had to be a one-dayer because of no Test match, then so be it."