The MCG’s head curator has conceded staff went “too far” in preparing a pitch that favoured the bowlers too heavily in the Boxing Day Test, saying he was in a “state of shock” while watching the match unfold.
But the stadium’s chief executive is standing by the under-fire curator after the Test match between Australia and England finished within two days.
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Cricket Australia is bracing for a heavy financial loss from the match, only a month after the Ashes opener in Perth also ended with three days to spare. It is the first time the same series has had multiple two-day Tests in 129 years.
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Millions of dollars in refunds will be handed to patrons who had purchased tickets for day three, which had been sold out and could have attracted a third successive crowd of more than 90,000.
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Matthew Page, the Melbourne Cricket Club’s head curator, left 10 mm of grass on the pitch, up from 7mm last year when Australia famously beat India late on day five.
“We’re trying to balance that contest between bat and ball throughout, over the four or five days, to provide that captivating Test for all,” Page told a press conference at the MCG on Sunday.
“We left it longer because we knew we were going to get [hot] weather at the back end that we knew we needed our grass [for]. You look back at it and you go, ‘well, it’s favoured the bowlers too much days one and two’. If that doesn’t happen, then we set ourselves up really good for day three and four.”
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The pitch was treacherous to bat on for both sides, with batters struggling with the sideways movement of the wobble-seam ball.
“If we don’t have seam movement here at the MCG we become very dull, very lifeless and very flat, which is no good for the players, no good for the spectators and it’s no good for the game,” Page said.
“So for us, it’s about providing that seam movement. We’ve gone too far with this one and obviously we’re very, very disappointed that it’s only gone two days.”
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Page said he was “a state of shock” watching the match unfold on the first day. “It was a rollercoaster ride for two days,” he said. “We’ll learn from it, we’ll grow from it, we’ll get better at it.”
The pitch prompted criticism even from fast-bowling greats such as Stuart Broad, Glenn McGrath and Brett Lee that it was unfair for batters.
England captain Ben Stokes, even after securing his country’s first Test win in Australia for 15 years, criticised the pitch for being too heavily in favour of bowlers. “Being brutally honest, that’s not really what you want,” Stokes said. “Boxing Day Test match, you don’t want a game finishing in less than two days. Not ideal.”
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But MCC boss Stuart Fox said he had full faith in Page and his ground staff. Page was poached from the WACA after the MCG pitch received a poor rating when only 24 wickets fell across five days in a dull 2017 draw.
Fox suggested not all of the blame should be on Page, saying aggressive batting also contributed to the landslide of wickets.
“We bought Matt on eight years ago because he’s considered one of the best in the country, if not the best,” Fox said. “I still believe that, and I always will.
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“He’s done a great job; him and his team worked tirelessly to get this right. You can see he’s disappointed. He carries that responsibility and my job as a leader is to support people. When you believe in your people, you get behind them and support them and I know he’ll respond.”
Australia star Travis Head, who top-scored in the match with 46, said he felt for Page.
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“I feel for him, it’s bloody tough,” Head said on Sunday. “You leave one or two millimetres (of grass) on with high quality bowling, and you find yourself short, and you take two or three mills off with high quality batting, and you go the other way.”
Australia and England will enjoy an extra three days to prepare for the fifth and final Test at the SCG, which starts on 4 January.
With Australian Associated Press
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