MCG curator at peace with pitch
MCG curator Matt Page isn’t feeling any extra pressure as the cricketing world waits to see if he has prepared a pitch befitting the most eagerly anticipated Boxing Day test in eight years.
The iconic venue suffered global embarrassment a year ago when the pitch produced for the Ashes test was branded poor by match referee Ranjan Madugalle.
The grading, unprecedented in Australia, was based on the docile drop-in deck failing to break up in a dull drawn encounter. Just 24 wickets fell in almost 400 overs, highlighting just how hard it was for bowlers.
Page wasn’t in charge of the centre strip at that point but took over soon after, and has hatched a plan to inject life into a surface that was being decried at both domestic and international level.
‘‘Whether you succeed the year before, or it didn’t go quite as planned, I think there’s still the same pressures there,’’ said Page, who was previously in charge at the WACA in Perth.
‘‘There’s definitely pressures there but there’s also a lot of excitement as well.
‘‘We’re confident we’ll produce a good surface . . . we’re pretty happy with where it is at.
‘‘I’m pretty relaxed through the whole thing. There’s a few nerves there, about what may happen or what may not happen but you back your plans.’’
A post-season debrief with Cricket Australia followed last year’s debacle.
Page mapped out a long-term fix, with the underlying concrete slab likely to be replaced by a more modern system at the end of this season, and rolled out shortterm measures, including sand and reducing the centre-wicket block from 10 to seven pitches.
Australia and India are locked at 1-1 in the four-test series.
The stakes haven’t been as high in a Melbourne test since the 2010-11 Ashes, when Australia arrived after a series-levelling victory but then were clinically thumped by England.
Two of the past four Boxing Day tests have been drawn while there wasn’t a single outright result in any first-class match at the MCG during 2017-18.
Victoria beat NSW at the venue this season, while there would have been a result in their clash with South Australia if not for the final day being washed out. ‘‘This pitch will be similar to the South Australian game, and the feedback we got from that game was positive,’’ Page said.