MUST WATCH: JFM obliterates IPL bowling attack - even Bumrah! - for 15-ball 50... and keeps going
A six-laden, 27-ball 84 from Jake Fraser-McGurk to continue his outrageous debut IPL!
For the second year in a row, curator Tom Parker finds himself looking overhead almost as much as underfoot ahead of the SCG Test.
Rain is predicted on all five days of the dead rubber between Australia and Pakistan, which starts on Tuesday in Sydney.
Wet weather ruined the corresponding fixture last year, with no play possible on days three and four of the drawn Test between Australia and the West Indies.
Showers are again forecast but they aren’t expected to be nearly as severe or persistent.
“In my time here, just on 20 years, I’ve never seen a Test match like that here,” Parker said on Monday.
“We don’t want to go through that again. We want to see some enjoyable cricket over the next five days.
“You’re going to see pretty much a traditional SCG pitch.
“The SCG always traditionally spins. That’s been the nature of the beast here for many years.”
Parker spoke with captain Steve Smith and coach Darren Lehmann on Monday morning, with this week’s forecast dominating discussion.
“They were very happy with the condition of the pitch and what they were seeing,” he said, admitting cloud cover might impact how much the pitch broke up.
“They were more concerned about the weather conditions over the next five days.”
Parker added he was under no pressure to produce a spin-friendly strip ahead of Australia’s four-Test tour of India.
“I give Cricket Australia full credit; they’ve never come down and told me how to prepare the pitch,” he said.
“There’s been no correspondence regarding this match at all.
“All of our games this season … we’ve seen a fair bit of turn.
“There’s a lot of grass on this pitch but … they (spinners) seem to like the thicker grass – it makes the ball grip and turn a bit more.”
Build your own fantasy cricket team and put it to the test with Draftstars daily fantasy competitions. Pick your match, pick your team and watch the points roll in to take out cash prizes on each match. What are you really gambling with? Set a deposit limit.
A six-laden, 27-ball 84 from Jake Fraser-McGurk to continue his outrageous debut IPL!
It seems franchise cricket has forgotten about the great battle between bat and ball. In fact, this season in the IPL there is no battle at all.
The mammoth rise of Jake Fraser-McGurk - his enormous potential and the destructive shot-making that he possesses makes him a very tempting option.
Test great Steve Smith is to play for Washington Freedom in the second season of Major League Cricket as the Australian influence in the…
Nathan Lyon has revealed his disappointment that Australia's cricket chiefs have prevented him from playing his first full season of county cricket in England…
Some of you may have watched the recent Fox Sports Series 'A Brief History of Australian Cricket: the Eighties'. If not, I’d definitely recommend…