Ashes: final England-Australia Test will not be played at Perth

Due to strict Covid-19 regulations and border norms amid the pandemic in Western Australia, the venue for the Ashes finale which was to be held in Perth's Optus stadium will now be changed, confirmed Cricket Australia on Monday. The board, however, has yet not finalised where the final Test match which begins on Jan 14th, will be staged.

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The board said that they made every effort, but it is not possible to align the respective priorities of CA and the state government.

With the emergence of the new variant of Covid-19, Omicron, the state premier had re-iterated Western Australia's harsh take on Covid norms that included strict 14-day quarantine and the Teams travelling without their families. The cricketers were bound to follow them after arrival from New South Wales where the 4th Test would be contested until January 9th.

Perth hasn't hosted a single Test match since 2019. They denied hosting last year's historic first Test between Australia and Afghanistan as well, due to their pandemic regulations.

Ashes begin on Wednesday in Brisbane.