Basil Zempilas has doubled down on his criticism of the MCG crowd as the Perth mayor called for the day/night Test to be given to the west coast.

Zempilas caused a stir on Boxing Day when he took aim at the 62,000 fans who attended the opening day of the Test at the 100,000-seat stadium.

The Perth mayor fiercely defended his city when just under 60,000 fans went to Optus Stadium over four days of cricket in Australia‘s first Test win over Pakistan. 

Reflecting on the MCG crowd, he tweeted: ‘Hmmmm. What’s their excuse? Not like you can go to the beach?’ 

Unsurprisingly, his comment was met with a lot of criticism, with fans labelling it ’embarrassing’.

He took to Twitter to aim a dig at the Melbourne fans on Boxing Day

However, he has refused to budge on his stance, now claiming that the day/night Test is better located in Perth. 

‘Bugger the Vics I say. Bugger the rest of them as well,’ he told 6PR Radio.

‘All of this came out of a bit of tongue-in-cheek fun at the Victorians for all going home when it started raining. And I looked up at the MCG, virtually empty and said, ‘what’s their excuse? It’s not as if they can go to the beach.

‘That was of course relating to our own crowds at our own Test match. Yes, the Vics did have more on one day, the opening day of the Boxing Day Test than we had for our entire Test match, but then again … if our Test match started on Boxing Day, a public holiday, I reckon we’d get a fair crowd as well.’ 

To further back his point, Zempilas singled out the Boxing Day crowd at Optus Stadium for the Scorchers’ Big Bash League game, with over 40,000 in attendance.

He said that the strong turnout proves Perth’s appetite for late-night cricket and that the day/night Test should be moved from the Gabba to the west coast.

Logistically, however, a day/night Test in Perth may be a tough sell, as it would mean play would finish at around midnight on the east coast.

Zempilas was criticised but he has doubled down on his controversial stance

He has called for the day/night Test to come to Perth and says there is appetite for it

But a defiant Zempilas says: ‘Bugger what they say on the east coast!

‘Haven’t we had enough about being dictated to! In all seriousness, it’s the holiday time of the year, kids can stay up later.

‘I accept that you want as many young people around the nation following our national cricket team, but it is that time of the year when kids can stay up,’ he said.

‘Don’t we all do it when the Ashes are on? Don’t we do it when there’s big football matches overseas? We do stay up and it becomes a part of the fun and the culture of it.’