MELBOURNE: Boxing Day 2018. India versus Australia at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. As is the case in the ongoing series, the scoreline read 1-1 with the visitors winning in Adelaide and Australia levelling it up in Perth. The biggest match of the Australian summer was set up nicely for the home team in front of close to 90,000 fans.
On the contrary what happened defined India's one of the epic away moments in cricket. India batted first, piled on more than 400 runs (443/7 decl.); Cheteshwar Pujara (106) once again tormented the Australian pace attack. There on, Jasprit Bumrah did what he does, helping India secure an unassailable 2-1 lead. While Indian players needed to lauded for their performance, there was a scene that sums up where the contest was lost.
This was reflected in the Season One of The Test — a Primevideo documentary on Australian men’s team.
In the seventh over on Day One of the Test, Mitchell Starc ran in and pitched the ball in length on leg stump. The ball went down the leg, but kept low and rolled past the then captain and wicket-keeper Tim Paine. The visuals of it accompanied Justin Langer, the then head coach, in The Test documentary saying, “I think it was the second or third over, the ball bounced about this high (knee level) and it was like you could just feel the energy in the whole coaches’ box just go ‘oh no, it is the flattest wicket in the world.”
This happened a year after the MCG had received poor rating for the flat wicket produced for the 2017-18 Ashes. Alistair Cook scored a double century (244 n.o), batting for ten hours, helping England salvage their only draw of the 0-4 defeat. Matt Page had joined MCG as head curator in November 2017, and had little role in the surface that was prepared for the Ashes. After that match, they sat down and reviewed what needed to be done. The drop-in pitches hadn’t been effective.
Things were not going to change overnight, or in a year, as it was evident in the India-Australia match in 2018. The work began in March 2019 when the concrete slab upon which the drop-in pitches had been placed for almost two decades was removed. It was replaced with the same gravel and sand profile as that of the MCG outfield. From thereon, the drop-in pitches were rest on a layer of compacted-sand.
Page, who was a curator with WACA in the past and had even worked with the new Perth Stadium, needed some time to understand the nature of the MCG conditions. Come 2019 Boxing Day Test, Page had left about 10.5mm grass on the surface. In combination with the changes that were made underneath, it was not going to be a flat batting surface anymore. It took a sensational knock from Travis Head for Australia to post 467. But slowly and steadily, a change was happening. All 20 wickets in the first two innings of the match belonged to pacers. Australia won the Test and the series against New Zealand.
For the 2020-21 Indian summer Down Under, Page and MCG ground staff produced a similar surface, leaving 11mm of grass on it. Australia were coming into the match after dismissing India for 36 in Adelaide and were hoping for another win. However, no one could replicate what Head did and India dismissed them for 195 in the first innings. Ajinkya Rahane produced a batting masterclass and the visitors not just beat Australia in Melbourne, but went on to win the series.
In the 2021 Ashes, Scott Boland took 6/7 on another green surface that had about 10mm grass and the match ended in two and a half days. Since then, Page and MCG staff have maintained a left over 6mm grass on the surface on Boxing Day and it has worked out well in 2022 and 2023. As India and Australia are setting up for another Boxing Day bonanza, a similar green surface is expected for what is going to be a hot, sold out opening day of the match.
On a breezy, cold Monday, standing on the lush green outfield with slight drizzle trickling down, Page explained the journey MCG pitch has been through since he took charge. “We are never going to be as quick as Perth and Brisbane, but over the last few years we've managed to get some pace in it, which has created that excitement. There's a bit of grass on it. If you're a fast bowler and you look at it, you probably do get excited," Page told reporters in the afternoon.
Page also confirmed what data suggests on the limited role spinners will have in the match, at least on the first few days. Since 2019, pacers have taken 126 wickets in five Tests at MCG, averaging 25.21 runs per wicket. The spinners average 33.03 in this period. This is in contrast to 2017 and 2018, where only 56 wickets fell across two Tests.
“Spinners? Oh, it doesn’t really break up and spin here. If you look at our long-format games over the last four or five years, they’ve been more seam-friendly than spin-friendly. So I don’t see that changing here. We sat down seven years ago after 2017 and discussed where we wanted to go as an organisation and what we wanted to be renowned for—producing Test matches that provide a thrilling contest," he said.
While the temperature on first day of the Test is expected to be close to 40 deg Celsius, Page said that they have not decided yet on whether or not to leave some moisture on the surface to compensate. “It probably means it might quicken up a bit quicker than what it would if it was 20 (degrees). Whether we leave a bit more moisture in it, I can't say yes or no at this stage. We'll keep monitoring the weather ... and adjust our preparation accordingly. We've been really happy with the last couple of years, so it's a rinse-and-repeat job for us," Page said.
It is good news for Jasprit Bumrah and Co that the surface will continue to have sideways movement through the course of the Test. However, it also means that the batters will have to up the game. And which batting unit does that could well decide the contest and the series.
MCG Test pitch since 2019 (5 games)
Bowler type WKTS AVG SR
Pacers 126 25.21 52
Spinners 30 33.03 66