Australia v South Africa: Gabba curator responds to brutal criticism of controversial ‘green mamba’

The Gabba curator has broken his silence following outrage over the two-day result in Brisbane, as revelations South Africa’s captain questioned umpires over the safety of the pitch.

Curator David Sandurski has admitted his treacherous Test deck was not good enough for a major Test match following two days of batting carnage at the Gabba.

South African captain Dean Elgar asked umpires whether it was safe to continue but Australian Pat Cummins dismissed the claim after Australia’s first home two day Test in 90 years.

South Africa capitulated to be all out for 99 in their second innings, setting Australia just 34 runs to complete a whacko six-wicket win.

The entire match was over within 144.2 overs, with still an hour to play on the second day.

Thirty four wickets fell in just five and a half sessions of cricket.

Asked whether he gave the pitch a pass mark, Sandurski declined to defend his work.

“The proof is in the pudding,’’ Sandurski told News Corp. “The scorecards are there. You can’t deny it. It is obviously not good enough for a match of this magnitude.

Travis Head ducks out of the way in the second innings. Picture: Bradley Kanaris/Getty

“I am obviously disappointed. No-one wants to have a two day Test. All the signs in the preparation pointed towards it being a reasonable wicket. Two really good bowling line-ups have exposed every bit of that wicket that they could.’’

Sandurski took full responsibility for producing the lively deck and said one of the problems was he did not get a chance to fully renovate it after the AFL season due to the T20 World Cup.

“But having said that I have been around for a long time and I have to be better than that as well. I have to own that. I made that pitch myself and I made the decisions and I will go back and review that see how we can improve next time.’’

Asked whether the track was dangerous, Cummins replied “no way, it was fine’’ but Elgar had a vastly different view.

“You’ve got to ask yourself the question, is that a good advertisement for our format?’’ Elgar said.

Dean Elgar expressed safety concerns. Picture: Patrick Hamilton/AFP

“Thirty four wickets in two days? Pretty one-sided affair I would say. I think that leads into what everyone’s thinking actually. I’m obviously a purest of this format and you want to see the game go four or five days. And just the way, the nature of how it started to play, with some seriously steep bounce with the old ball. You are on a hiding to none as a batting unit.

“I did ask the umpires … ‘how long does it go on for until it potentially is unsafe?

Cummins said: ““It was certainly tricky. I don’t think the toss had a big factor in the win because everything happened so quickly. Two days probably isn’t ideal.

“A lot of sideways movement and today a little bit of up and down bounce as well. “Personally, I kind of don’t mind when the groundsman err on the greener side occasionally, I’ve played a lot of Test matches when they’ve erred on the flatter side so I think it was the same for both teams. No way (was it dangerous), it was fine.”

Such was the chaotic nature of the contest that even though Australia were chasing just 34 for victory tailender Mitchell Starc had his pads on ready to bat at the end.

It was a victory target which Australia made hard work of, with Usman Khawaja, David Warner, Steve Smith and Travis Head also becoming part of the Gabba wicket procession before the job was finally finished off by Marnus Labuschagne and Cameron Green … and more accurately, 19 runs in wides and byes.

Gabba curator David Sandurski. Picture: News Corp/Attila Csaszar

It might have been even tighter at the death if not for Kagiso Rabada and Anrich Nortje both zipping in three ferocious bouncers which flew over the batsman and keeper’s head for four – including the winning runs.

It’s more than 20 years since Australia last played a two-day Test, a victory over Pakistan in Sharjah back in 2002.

Commentators have already put the blowtorch on the Gabba curator amid accusations the green wicket was far too spicy for a Test match, and too heavily weighted towards the bowlers.

Mark Waugh on Fox Cricket was particularly critical, as was Brisbane local Matt Hayden on Channel 7, who said he had never seen his Gabba deck look so green.