The Melbourne Cricket Ground’s seam-friendly pitch for the fourth Ashes Test was rated “unsatisfactory” Monday by the International Cricket Council after it ended inside two days. Under the world governing body’s four-tier rating system “unsatisfactory” is the second lowest, characterising a pitch “favouring the bowlers too much”.
It broke the venue’s streak of “very good” ratings for the past three Boxing Day Tests and earned it one demerit point.
“The MCG pitch was too much in favour of the bowlers,” said match referee Jeff Crowe. “With 20 wickets falling on the first day, 16 on the second day and no batter even reaching a half-century, the pitch was ‘unsatisfactory’ as per the guidelines and the venue gets one demerit point.”
England beat Australia by four wickets in the final session of day two, with no batsman scoring more than 46 across the four innings. The first Test in Perth also ended in two days, but that pitch was rated “very good” by the ICC.
MCG curator Matt Page and his team left 10 millimetres (0.4 inches) of grass on the wicket, providing the seamers with movement and bounce and making batting treacherous.
The carnage left Cricket Australia facing Aus$10 million (US$6.7 million) in revenue shortfall, with tickets for day three and four needing to be refunded.
“We were disappointed for the fans holding tickets for days three and four, and also the millions of fans excited to watch the action in Australia and around the world, that the pitch did not provide the MCG’s customary balance between bat and ball,” said Cricket Australia’s chief of cricket James Allsopp. “We appreciate the outstanding work the MCG staff has done over recent years producing excellent Test match pitches,” he added. Before the ICC decision was handed down, Australia coach Andrew McDonald came to the defence of Page and warned against authorities meddling in pitch preparation.
McDonald said Page had done an “outstanding” job over the years and the batsmen should also shoulder some of the blame for not scoring enough runs. “The perspective that I always use is we have bad Test matches as well — this Test we weren’t at our best and sometimes these things can happen. “We support him in what he’s done and are really proud of the evolution of the MCG.
“He’s found a nice balance for a long period of time.” Cricket Australia are set to undertake their own end-of-season review of the management of Test wickets. Chief executive Todd Greenberg has suggested a more interventionist approach might be needed, with shorter Tests “bad for business”. But McDonald said he was not in favour of any interference, with curators in Australia traditionally independent when preparing pitches, both from captains and Cricket Australia. “I don’t want to get to a situation … where we are asking for specific surfaces and tailor-made,” McDonald said. “I don’t think Australia will ever go there, and I don’t think they’ve ever been there, to my knowledge.” Australia lead the series 3-1 with the fifth and final Test in Sydney starting Sunday.