Cricket journalist Gideon Haigh has hit back after a week in the headlines for his comments over Perth’s ‘sterile’ stadium, standing by his controversial claims.

The highly respected writer told Channel 7 he was surprised to have been in the headlines for his comments, but the unwanted publicity hasn’t changed his opinion.

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“I’m not sure why anyone would care particularly what I think, seeing I seldom do, but I offered a couple of throwaway lines about Perth Stadium which I perfectly and totally stand by,” Haigh told Mel McLaughlin and Peter Lalor on Seven’s broadcast.

“I’m not totally enamoured of it as a Test match venue. I used to love coming over here for the WACA Test match.

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“I think what they’ve done is they’ve swapped a ground with a really, really strong sense of regional identity – the WACA was a ground where you just could not be anywhere else in the world it was uniquely Perth - for a stadium where you could be anywhere in the world. You could be in Dubai.”

Camera Icon Gideon Haigh speaks to Mel McLaughlin and Peter Lalor on Seven’s broadcast. Credit: 7Sport

The 53-year-old commended the venue’s facility, while saying the offering still didn’t separate the ground from the rest.

“It’s a technologically advanced and extremely new stadium that looks like a lot of other stadiums around the world,” he said.

“I do feel that with a sense of loss. I feel Test matches are best played with a certain texture and a certain tradition and a certain heritage.”

Haigh applauded today’s significant announcement of $30 million in funding being injected into the WACA Ground.

“It is very good to see the Western Australian Government has come out today and pledged $30 million to the reconditioning of the WACA, raising the possibility that we will go back for certain Test matches, smaller Test matches in future,” Haigh said.

“I’ll be delighted to see that.”