Sleepy MCG pitch would favour Australia

Australia has hosted very few absorbing Tests in the past decade due in a large part to boring pitches.

Lively decks at Adelaide and Perth have enhanced the current series against India, so what can we now expect from the MCG?

Melbourne has become the biggest road in Australia for first-class cricket in recent years, with two draws from the past four Tests there, and an average first inning total of 464 by the team batting first in that time.

Not only did all five first-class matches at the MCG last summer end in draws, but the pitch for the Boxing Day Test against England was condemned by the ICC. Match referee Ranjan Madugalle slammed that MCG deck which he said “did not allow an even contest between the bat and the ball”.

The MCG has since appointed a new head curator, former WACA curator Matthew Page, who was tasked with trying to inject some life into the ground’s drop-in surface.

While it has been reported the MCG pitch will soon be upgraded to the same standard as those used at Perth Stadium and Adelaide Oval, right now Page still has to work with the existing infrastructure.

That’s no easy mission, as Page has learned already this summer. He this week expressed disappointment at the fairly unresponsive state of the pitch for the most recent first-class match at the MCG.

That Shield match between Victoria and WA earlier this month ended in a draw despite the home side declaring in both innings.

The previous Shield match at the MCG, in early November, also ended in a draw although rain was the culprit on that occasion, while the only other first-class fixture there this summer saw Test opener Marcus Harris pile up 250*.

Although there have been some low first innings scores at the MCG in the Shield this year, all have been made by visiting teams.

That is because of the extreme potency of the Victorian attack, which has included the likes of Chris Tremain, James Pattinson, Peter Siddle, Scott Boland, John Holland and Fawad Ahmed, each of whom have represented Australia.

Tremain is in the Australian Test squad for the Boxing Day Test but won’t play unless there is a late injury concern to one of quicks Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood. Australia probably wouldn’t be upset if the MCG pitch is much flatter than the surfaces for the first two Tests given the proven track record of their attack on such decks.

The Indian bowling unit has been excellent across the first two Tests, helping them go into Boxing Day at 1-1 in the series. But their successes as a unit this year have come mostly on bowler-friendly decks, like those we saw in Perth and Adelaide.

It was always on batting paradises that the Indian attack was most likely to be outclassed by their Australian counterparts.

This is particularly the case given the return to form in Perth of Starc, Australia’s best flat-wicket paceman.

The left armer can take even the most soporific pitch out of the equation thanks to his height, searing pace, swing skills, and the unique angles he creates from over and around the wicket.

Australia’s Mitchell Starc celebrates after taking a wicket. (AP Photo/Rick Rycroft)

The other key bowling advantage Australia possess is the rampant form of off spinner Nathan Lyon. Despite the dead nature of recent Boxing Day pitches, Lyon has still done well in those Tests, taking 14 wickets at 29 in the past three matches at the MCG.

He enters this year’s fixture in career-best form, with 16 wickets across the first two Tests, and a whopping 111 wickets from his past 20 matches.

Lyon has never taken more than 23 wickets in a Test series before, a record he looks likely to break over the final two matches against India. If the MCG pitch is batting friendly, Australia’s elite Test attack is their key to going 2-1 up in the series.