Australia-England ODI to open Perth Stadium

Cricket will open the new Perth Stadium, with confirmation the fifth Gillette One-Day International between Australia and England in late January will be played at the new stadium.

The Perth Scorchers will also play their finals games at the new stadium, should the club win hosting rights. Regular season games for BBL|07 will be held at the WACA.

The Scorchers will, however, play the first cricket at the venue with a closed test event against the England Lions on December 11. A second match with limited invite-only tickets for friends and family of those involved in the stadium's construction will be held two days later.

Image Id: 3CAC59984AC7496F97766F83C97A8BC2 Image Caption: Perth will use the same type of turf that the MCG and Gabba use // Getty

The stadium will have seating for some 55,000 for cricket once seats have been blocked out for sight screens at either end.

An expected sell out would set a new Western Australia record for sporting crowds, beating the 52,781 at the 1979 WAFL grand final. WA current record for a cricket crowd is the 28,210 who saw Australia play South Africa at the WACA in 1993-94.

Cricket had long been touted to open the stadium but construction milestones needed to be hit to ensure it could go ahead. Delays to the footbridge over the Swan River linking the Burswood venue and the Perth CBD had put the match in jeopardy.

Image Id: 8E625D2CC8A2484CACA79393A2C52391 Image Caption: The venue has now had turf installed ahead of a December 11 match // Getty

The match on January 28 comes a week after the stadium hosts an open day for locals, which saw some 110,000 tickets snapped up in a few hours, allowing people a walk through the stadium and associated parklands, plus demonstrations of the stadium's audio-visual capabilities, including the largest in-stadium screens in the Southern Hemisphere.

Australian Cricket Family Gold members will again get access to an exclusive pre-sale, from 9am Perth time on November 21, with Green ACF access from 9am WST on November 22. General public sales will begin Friday through Ticketmaster.

The match is scheduled for an 11.20am local start time – 2.20pm AEDT – which means the stadium's hi-tech LED lighting system will not be seen in full effect with play during daylight hours.

Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said it was a "huge honour" for cricket to open the stadium.

"For Cricket to host the first major sporting event at Perth Stadium is a huge honour for our sport, and given it’s an Australia-England fixture, we are confident that will be able to celebrate history being made with a sold-out stadium," Sutherland said in a statement.

"Thanks must go to the WA Government, Venues Live and the WACA for working hard to enable this to happen. The stadium is simply state-of-the-art, and a magnificent asset for the state and WA sports fans."

Image Id: 9E6EF455783C41C0ADE24153E2051F4D Image Caption: The Perth Stadium will seat 55,000 for cricket // Getty

WACA CEO Christina Matthews said: "We're extremely excited to be the first sport and first major event at Perth Stadium, which comes after close collaboration with the WA State Government and Cricket Australia to ensure a world-class fan-first cricket experience at the new venue.

"Not only will we be able to reach a larger live audience through increased capacity, the ODI will showcase the new stadium to a large global televised audience.

"Playing a final Ashes Test and regular BBL matches at the WACA Ground and passing the torch to Perth Stadium with an England ODI, is a fitting way to start a new chapter in WA's cricket tale."

2017-18 International Fixtures:

Magellan Ashes Series

First Test Gabba, November 23-27. Buy tickets

Second Test Adelaide Oval, December 2-6 (Day-Night). Buy tickets

Third Test WACA Ground, December 14-18. Buy tickets

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Buy tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Buy tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Buy tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Buy tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Buy tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Buy tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Join the ACF

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Buy tickets

Gillette T20 INTL Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Buy tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Buy tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Buy tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 13

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21