England will play one final Ashes Test at the Waca in Perth after Cricket Australia confirmed that hold-ups in the construction of a new stadium in the city mean that the match will take place at the old ground.
Cricket Australia says the decision gives supporters "some certainty" over where the match will be played, adding that tickets to the match, which starts on 14 December, will go on sale "very shortly".
Although the Waca, which has a capacity of just over 20,000, is far smaller than the new 60,000-seater stadium, the new venue could be ready in time for the one-day international between England and Australia in late January.
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"The stadium has been subject to numerous construction delays in recent months, largely related to a footbridge to be erected across the Swan River, easing access from Perth's CBD to the Burswood location of the venue," reports Cricinfo.
The delay means that the 'Fremantle Doctor', the sea breeze that blows in off the Indian Ocean each afternoon, will blow across the Waca one last time during a Test, says The Guardian.
But not everyone will be smiling. "News of an Ashes swansong at the Waca may not be too warmly welcomed within England's batting ranks, considering the team's dreadful record there," says the paper.
"They have won just once on the notoriously hard and fast track, back in 1978, and were most recently eviscerated by a fearsome display of fast bowling by Mitchell Johnson on Australia's way to reclaiming the Ashes in 2013."
England even lost at the Waca – "once infamous for prodigious pace and bounce" – during their triumphant tour of Australia in 2010-11, says The Times, with Johnson once again the architect of their downfall.
But while Johnson has been the destroyer on recent tours the ground is most associated with local hero Dennis Lillee, who terrorised batsmen in the 1970s and 80s, and now has a stand named after him and his partner in crime wicketkeeper Rod Marsh.
Meanwhile, the first event confirmed for the new stadium is an Ed Sheeran concert scheduled for March.
