Cricket Australia flags pitch intervention after potential multimillion-dollar shortfall

When Stokes spoke to match referee Jeff Crowe, who is responsible for giving the International Cricket Council’s pitch rating, he said his feedback on the pitch “wasn’t going to be the best”.

“To be brutally honest, that’s not what you want,” Stokes said. “Boxing Day Test match, you don’t want a game to be over in less than two days.

“I’m pretty sure there would be hell if it were anywhere else in the world.

“That’s not the best thing for games that have to be played over five days.”

Although Stokes did not elaborate when asked, India was clearly referenced in the comment about the other part of the world.

Australia captain Steve Smith was more measured in his criticism of the pitch prepared by MCC chief curator Page, describing it as “challenging”.

“Thirty-six wickets over two days probably offered a bit too much,” Smith said. “It’s difficult for a groundsman. He’s always looking for the right balance.”

“Last year’s wicket was phenomenal, it got to the fifth day, the final session, and in an ideal world every wicket does that and it’s exciting for everyone, but maybe if you took it from 10 millimeters to eight millimeters it would have been a nice, challenging wicket, maybe a little bit more even.

“Landsmen are always learning and will undoubtedly take something away from this.”

CA became increasingly wary of the impact the greatly shortened Tests had on the outcome and did not rule out radical changes to how pitches were produced.

‘Bad for business’

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“The simple phrase I would use is ‘quizzes are bad for business’,” Greenberg said on SEN on Saturday morning. “I can’t be more clear than that.”

Although Greenberg said he would wait until after the Test to make a decision on the MCG circuit, he flagged the idea of ​​CA taking a more hands-off approach to how pitches are produced in this country.

“That’s something we’ll have to look at at the end of the series because historically we’ve taken a hands-on approach with all our wicket preparations and allowed the squad and conditions to be delivered on those specifications,” Greenberg said.

“When you see the impact on the sport, especially from a commercial perspective, it’s hard not to get more involved. I’m not saying I’m going to talk to the ground staff but we need to carefully consider what our expectations are over the summer.”

“Quizzes are not good for business.”

Unlike India, curators in this country are fiercely independent when it comes to their work, and it would be a drastic change if the head office had more say.

“History tells you we never did that because we never needed to,” Greenberg said.

“I’m conscious that Australian cricket continues to evolve, players are evolving in difficult circumstances to the point where you don’t see a real partnership that’s being mined and talked about. [they] They would try to make it through the next two hours.

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“What we saw was players running down the goal line trying to get away.

“If this is the modern game, is wicket preparation and our conditions conducive to achieving the best results for our sport? That is an open question for me and others.”

Page said before the game that captains had no say in how the field would be pitched.

“We’re left to our own devices, which is perfect,” he said.

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Test greats Stuart Broad and Brett Lee were among a number of former players who believed the Boxing Day pitch was too tilted in favor of the bowlers.

“I haven’t seen a move this fast in a long, long time,” Broad said on Seven.

Greenberg said 20 wickets dropped in a day, like the first day, was too many.

“So I would like to see a little bit more of a broader balance between bat and ball,” Greenberg said. “I thought he had the ball in his favor a little bit yesterday.

“The batsmen have some stake in those things, I don’t think it’s everywhere on the field, but we have some challenges.”

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