The juicy Gabba deck has always been a favourite of the Australian cricket team. But after looking at results around the world, Australian skipper Ricky Ponting is relishing the Brisbane ground just that little bit more ahead of the first Test against the West Indies starting on Thursday.

As he prepared to defend Australia’s 20-year unbeaten run at the Gabba, Ponting was left shaking his head when told the day one score of India’s second Test against Sri Lanka at Kanpur.

Hosts India were a tidy 2-417 at stumps.

Ponting stopped short of heralding the death of Test cricket.

But the frustrated captain was clearly concerned.

“Test cricket when it was at its most exciting was all about three or four fast bowlers and lots of bouncers being bowled and lots of hook shots being played,” Ponting said.

“The hostility between bat and ball I think were the most attractive things about the game of Test cricket.

“Now a lot of wickets around the world are very, very similar.

“Scoring rates are very high, probably too high.

“There’s not that real tough contest between fast bowler and batsman as much as I would like to see around the world.

“I think that has a lot to do with the absolute spectacle of Test cricket.”

Ponting said the Kanpur deck typified why crowds were dwindling at Test level – and didn’t rule out a spillover effect in Brisbane this week.

“Generally the first innings of their (sub continent) games are quite big and then the wickets break up and spin a little bit towards the end but quite often there’s no chance of forcing a result,” Ponting said.

“I think it’s one of the big reasons around the world why people aren’t turning up to watch Test cricket.

“It would be nice if something did happen with the wicket and they did forge a result there (Kanpur) because as we saw in the first one (Test) it was two and a half innings in the whole game and no one wants to see Test matches played that way.”

Asked what he would think if he walked out on Thursday and the Gabba grandstand was only a quarter full, Ponting said: “There’s not much we can do about that.

“We’ve been lucky here in Australia over the years, we’ve had a great following no matter what teams have been here.

“I think there will be a reasonable turn out here tomorrow and even if there’s not we’ll try and put on the best show we possibly can for whoever comes.”

Australia v West Indies
Played 105: Australia 50, Windies 32, Drawn 22, Tied 1
In Australia 60: Australia 33, Windies 18, Drawn 8, Tied 1
At Brisbane 12: Australia 6, Windies 3, Drawn 2, Tied 1
At Adelaide 13: Australia 5, windies 5, Drawn 3
At Perth 6: Australia 1, Windies 5.

Largest winning margins:
Australia – Innings and 217 runs at Brisbane 1930-31
West Indies – Innings and 112 runs at Perth 1984-85

Narrowest winning margins:
Australia – one wicket at Melbourne 1951-52
West Indies – one run at Adelaide 1992-93

Highest totals
At Brisbane: Australia 558 (1930-31); Windies 453 (1960-61)
At Adelaide: Australia 553 (1968-69); Windies 616 (1968-69)
At Perth: Australia 8-396 (2000-01); Windies 585 (1975-76)

Highest individual scores:
Australia
242 KD Walters at Sydney (1968-69)
223 DG Bradman at Brisbane (1930-31)

Windies
277 BC Lara at Sydney (1992-93)
226 CG Greenidge at Bridgetown (1990-91)

Best bowling in an innings:
Australia
8-71 GD McKenzie at Melbourne (1968-69)
8-87 MG Hughes at Perth (1988-89)

Windies
7-25 CEL Ambrose at Perth (1992-93)
7-54 AME Roberts at Perth (1975-76)

Best bowling in a match:
Australia – 13-217 MG Hughes at Perth (1988-89)
Windies – 11-107 MA Holding at Melbourne (1981-82)

© AAP 2012

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