Here's how the MCG pitch looks like before the third India-Australia Test

India vs Australia Boxing Day Test: The new pitch curator of the MCG has promised a sporting wicket for the third India-Australia Test match

If anyone will be under more pressure than the Australian and Indian captains before the Boxing Day Test, it has to be Melbourne Cricket Ground curator Matt Page. There were already a lot of speculative eyeballs circling over the MCG pitch after it got a poor a rating from ICC for last year’s Boxing Day Test and that just got doubled after the recent average rating awarded to the Perth pitch.

Seven of the last eight first-class games at the MCG over the last two years have ended in a draw and the lowest point was last year’s Boxing Day Test during the Ashes. ICC termed the pitch poor as it yielded 1,081 runs at the cost of only 24 wickets. However, the current curator Page is ready to leave all that behind, promising a sporting wicket for the third India-Australia Test match.

"We're pretty happy with where it is at the moment," Mr Page said of the pitch at the MCG on Sunday morning.

"It's just a case of monitoring the weather and then adjusting our plans as we see fit, but we're happy with where it is at and the weather is looking good, so we're in a pretty good spot at the moment," Page told cricket.com.au

The pitch had a fair amount of grass covering even till late on Monday but considering the history of the Melbourne wickets, one should not be fooled by it as rightly pointed out by Australia head coach Justin Langer. “Although it looks like there’s some grass on the wicket, there’s a bit of moisture in it, we also know the history of it,” Langer said.

 

Last year the MCG received a US$15,000 fine — which could increase to $US30,000 if it receives another poor rating in the next five years.

The Ashes fiasco forced MCG to change a lot of things, including the curator. Page was brought in from WACA to help MCG regain its old glories but even during his tenure, it has failed to produce results.

Victoria and Western Australia played out yet another run-laden draw on the ground earlier this month.

Page defended the results in the Shield games, terming them experiments before the Boxing Day Test.

"We had three Shield games leading into this, and the big plan for us was to play around with a few things to make sure we get it right for Boxing Day.