Australia stand-in skipper Steve Smith addressed the MCG wicket following the Boxing Day Test, which concluded in just two days with England winning by four wickets. He noted that if the 10mm grass had been 2mm shorter, it may have altered the outcome of the match.
Pitch Controversy at MCG
The pitch at the Melbourne Cricket Ground faced scrutiny after the Boxing Day Ashes Test between Australia and England finished in two days. A total of 36 wickets fell in 142 overs, lasting for 952 balls—just five more than the series opener in Perth.
“It obviously offered a lot, 36 wickets in two days, it offered plenty. Had it been either 2mm shorter or a little less thatchy with 10mm, it might have been alright, but I’m not a groundsman, so it’s hard to judge. But it did look like it was going to offer a fair amount, probably a little more than I thought it would. I think the groundsman is always learning, but he’s produced some pretty good wickets in the last two years,” Smith told SEN Cricket.
Historical Pitch Performance
The MCG has been criticized in the past for flat wickets favoring batters, especially during the 2017 Ashes Test when only 24 wickets fell over five days. That pitch drew significant criticism, prompting match referee Ranjan Madugalle to assign a “poor” rating in his official assessment report.
“I think when I started, we didn’t have too many wickets like this. When I started, the MCG used to be run tickets, but that’s changed a bit over the last four or five years. It’s probably changed more into a better cricket wicket where bat and ball are competing against each other. The game’s changed in terms of the aggression batters use… if 10 years ago you saw Harry Brook come out and bat like that, you’d think, ‘What’s going on?!’,” Smith remarked.
Brook was the top run-scorer for England, while Travis Head topped the chart for Australia in the second innings, indicating that the wicket demanded a more aggressive approach.
Mitchell Starc’s Perspective
Fast bowler Mitchell Starc shared Smith’s viewpoint, stating, “Nobody wants to see two-day Test matches.”
“I guess you saw it start to play a bit truer in the back end of yesterday. Would a couple of mm off change the game much? Or was it application? Or even just two good attacks? You probably don’t want to see two-day Test matches, so they probably got it (the grass on the pitch) slightly too high. We saw last week in Adelaide, it was pretty flat and didn’t do a lot unless the ball was hard and new.”
Starc added, “Batters got that one last week, and bowlers got one in their favour probably a bit too much this week. I saw last year it was 6 or 7mm; arguably if you make it 8mm, it’s probably a pretty good surface. It’s one to not dwell too much on and move on pretty quick.”