Cricket Australia flags pitch intervention after potential multimillion-dollar shortfall
“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.
England will celebrate a wicket at the MCG on Saturday.Credit: Chris Hopkins
“History tells you we never did that because we never needed to,” Greenberg said.
“I’m conscious that Australian cricket continues to evolve – obviously players are improving to the point where you don’t see players in difficult circumstances, there’s no real partnership that’s being dug in and said. [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.”
MCG chief curator Matt Page stressed before the game that captains had no say in how the pitch was pitched.
“Absolutely not,” Page said. “We’re left to our own devices, which is perfect.”
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The carnage on the first day contrasted with the dull pitch used in the 2017 Boxing Day Test, in which Alastair Cook made a record-breaking 244. This ground was rated “poor” by the International Cricket Council for the first time for a ground in Australia, leading to a significant change in the way MCG Test strips were produced. Eight years later, the conversation has changed a complete 180 degrees.
Greenberg said 20 wickets falling in a day was too much.
“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.”
Test greats Stuart Broad, Mark Waugh and Brett Lee were among a number of former players who believed the Boxing Day pitch was too tilted in favor of the bowlers.
Broad told Channel Seven: “I haven’t seen movement that fast in a long, long time; not only did it have sideways movement, it had that extra bounce.”
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