MCG curator brushes aside India’s wet pitch concerns - ‘It’s standard procedure’

Indian management raised concerns about the net surface given to them ahead of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne after variable bounce caused Rohit Sharma and Akash Deep to take hits on their body. Akash Deep said it was perhaps due to the surface being prepared for white-ball matches, but MCG chief curator Matt Page refused that by saying the venue followed the standard procedure of preparing the surface.

The reported incident happened three days ahead of the match, and according to Page, it was wet, so no such incident would happen once it dried down. “For us, three days out, we prepare Test match pitches for here. If teams come and train before that, they get what pitches we have had,” Page was quoted as saying by The Daily Telegraph. 

“Today, we are on fresh pitches. If India had trained (Monday) morning, they would have been on those fresh pitches – it’s stock standard procedure for us, three days out. We’ve seen three fantastic Test matches so far on three great pitches. So, for us, it’s trying to do something similar to what we’ve done the past couple of years and create a thrilling contest,” Page said.

Over the last four years, the Boxing Day Test has seen a massive change in the wicket’s behaviour, as batting averages in the first innings from 446 between 2015-19 to 222 since 2020. With the temperature soaring 40 degrees for the game, moisture is expected to play a part.

“It’s (the weather) been factored in … now how far we go, we don’t know. We’ll just monitor – with Melbourne, the weather can change quite quickly. It probably means it might quicken up a bit quicker than it would if it was 20C,” Page added.