Typical WACA wicket may lift our spirits

AUSTRALIAN coach Justin Langer couldn’t wait to get to Perth and see what’s expected to be a WACA-style wicket with enough pace and bounce for the home quicks to put the Indians on the back foot.

Early mail from the wild west has suggested its’s a win the toss and bowl strip which will “do a bit early” and then harden up, and maybe even crack up, as the match goes on.

The second Test will be the first on a drop-in wicket in Perth with the match being played at the newly built stadium which has hosted minimal games of cricket so far.

But one of those was a Shef- field Shield clash last month in which rapid-fire WA quick Jhye Richardson took eight first-innings wickets.

NSW fast bowler Trent Copeland, who has joined the commentary caravan for the Test series, also played in that game and said he got shivers thinking about how close it was to the WACA of old.

Copeland took seven scalps himself in his team’s victory and said the wicket should provide “everything you want” if you are an Australian quick.

“The thing you want, when you are talking about Test matches in Perth, and if you are part of the Australian cricket team, one of our advantages over a team like India is pace and bounce so that was exciting to see,” Copeland said.

“Leading up to the game you could see the hardness underneath the actual tinge of grass, and you could see the cracks you used to see at the WACA. That’s what I think about the WACA — fast and bouncy, lots of guys getting out caught, hit on the gloves.”