Sightscreen Causes an Embarrassing 17-minute Delay at WACA Ground
The opening session of the third day of second Test between Australia and New Zealand was held up for 17 minutes because ground staff were unable to move the sightscreen at the northern end.
The ageing WACA Ground was the scene of an embarrassing delay in play on the third day of the second Test between Australia and New Zealand in Perth on Sunday. (Scorecard)
The day's opening session was held up for 17 minutes because ground staff were unable to move the sightscreen at the northern end to facilitate a change of approach by left-arm paceman Mitchell Starc.
Starc had decided to go around the wicket to Kane Williamson, who had asked for the sightscreen to be moved to the right.
Despite there being broad white sheets either side of the screen, the umpires stopped play, with New Zealand on 160 for 2, in response to Australia's 559 for nine declared.
Players stood and waited while WACA staff worked to fix the problem with the sightscreen, which was above an advertisement for Cricket Australia's website, with the slogan "Where play never stops".
The debacle continued what has been a largely forgettable Test for the WACA, in Western Australia's capital Perth, which looks set to be phased out as an international Test venue in the coming years.
The new Burswood stadium currently being constructed on the other side of the Swan River, in full view of the WACA, is being tipped to open with an Ashes Test between Australia and England in 2017-18.
The WACA will likely then only be used for Tests against smaller nations and could even cease to be a Test venue by 2018.
The placid nature of the pitch for this match has attracted much negative discussion, with suggestions the WACA Ground wickets no longer bear any resemblance to the fast and bouncy strips the venue was once renowned for.
There was a shorter delay due to sightscreen problems on the second day, and security staff repeatedly had to be told to move away from the sightscreen at the bowler's end.