Pitch fears ease for MCG test
Melbourne Cricket Ground authorities are increasingly confident of producing a good allround pitch for the Boxing Day test between Australia and New Zealand.
Fears that were raised when a Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and Western Australia was abandoned last month because of a dangerous pitch appear to have eased.
The Black Caps will be wanting all the help they can get as they try to fight their way back into the three-test series after being hammered in the opener in Perth.
MCG groundsman Matt Page is being challenged to produce a pitch like that for the first Sheffield Shield match of the summer when Queensland defeated Victoria in the final over of the fourth day and the pitch received a ‘‘very good’’ rating.
‘‘I’m sitting here today with a real level of comfort that everything the MCG and MCC have done in the last couple of years . . . they are in as good a place as they can be to produce a really good Boxing Day test wicket, CA’s operations manager Peter Roach said as he laid out the recipe he wanted.
‘‘I think it’s fair to say we are having a bigger involvement in this one given the circumstances.
‘‘But we want them to keep pushing for a pitch that has pace, carry, spin, seam and hopefully over the course of the match can deteriorate. We don’t want them to overreact and be too conservative.’’
Cricket Australia’s pitch consultant Les Burdett is heading to Melbourne this week to help with final preparations. The ground staff face a challenge with forecasted weather in excess of 40C.
The wicket planned for the Boxing Day test hasn’t been used since last summer when Victoria beat New South Wales with opener Marcus Harris making 250 and spinner Fawad Ahmed taking six wickets.