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A BBL Boxing Day clash between the Perth Scorchers and the Melbourne Renegades is almost certain to be switched away from the Western Australia capital.
The Melbourne Renegades are set to avoid a Christmas Day quarantine in Perth as Western Australia's tight border wreaks havoc with the Perth Scorchers' BBL fixtures.
The Scorchers hosted the Brisbane Heat at Optus Stadium on Wednesday night, and they will play two games on the road before returning to Perth to host the Hobart Hurricanes on December 20.
But it now appears almost certain that the Scorchers won't be able to play in Perth beyond the Hurricanes clash due to WA's tight border.
The complication arises from WA Premier Mark McGowan's reluctance to let in any team that has either played in Victoria recently, or has played a team who has been in Victoria recently.
The Scorchers were due to host the Renegades on Boxing Day.
Under that situation, the Renegades would have flown to Perth on Christmas Day before being escorted to their hotel rooms to stay under lockdown until coming out for the match.
The Boxing Day clash is almost certain to be switched away from Perth, with Melbourne's Marvel Stadium the most likely destination.
"As everybody knows, the problems we've got are the border restrictions," WA Cricket chief executive Christina Matthews said.
"Unless something changes in that, I can't see us having games after Christmas.
"And it gets to the stage where we've got to think about our players' preparation rather than the indecision of what we're doing. We'll sort that out over the next week."
The BBL finals start on January 21 and run through until January 28.
WA is set to throw open its borders in either late January or early February, meaning there is still a possibility that the Scorchers could host a home final in Perth.
Matthews said it was difficult to see how any regular-season BBL games could be played in Perth in January
"It's pretty hard now that the tournament's started to try to shift any games to allow us to come back here," Matthews said.
Cricket Australia have also been forced to rejig its Women's National Cricket League schedule.
Several matches between the ACT, Victoria and New South Wales have been rescheduled after a player in an ACT high performance program tested positive to COVID-19.
A number of ACT players and staff, including Meteors players, have been tested and are undergoing a seven-day quarantine as per ACT Government directives. All tests have come back negative.
The fixtures have been moved to allow the ACT Meteors sufficient time to prepare for their matches.
Two fixtures between Western Australia and South Australia scheduled for the WACA Ground on December 17 and December 19 have been postponed until March 1 and March 3.
