MCG boss laughs off talk of Perth’s plan to poach Boxing Day Test

MCG boss Stuart Fox says he was “amused” by talk of the new Perth Stadium’s audacious bid to steal the Boxing Day Test from Melbourne.

The MCG pitch copped heavy criticism before the Boxing Day Test. Picture: Michael Klein

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MCG boss Stuart Fox says he was “amused” by talk of the new Perth Stadium stealing the Boxing Day Test from Melbourne.

With a banal pitch producing a less than impressive first two days of cricket, Perth Stadium officials are reportedly preparing an audacious bid to snaffle the iconic Test, given the MCG’s contract ends at the end of the of summer.

But Fox told SEN Cricket the iconic Test “isn’t going anywhere” and he was working with Cricket Australia on a new arrangement.

The MCG pitch copped heavy criticism before the Boxing Day Test. Picture: Michael Klein

“I was amused, really ... they (Perth) tried to pinch the AFL Grand Final as well, so it didn’t surprise me at all,” Fox said.

“On a good Boxing Day Test, we can have 260-300,000 people come through the gate at one of the best stadiums in the world, it’s an iconic timeslot, through the Christmas period and Boxing Day - I certainly don’t think it’s going anywhere and Cricket Australia have said that.

“It’s a very competitive landscape across Australia and you would expect rival stadiums to be pitching for your content.”

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Fox said he didn’t pay much attention to those who claimed the MCG had lost its mantle as the best cricket venue in Australia.

“I think the MCG is always going to be special … we’ve just got to stay ahead of the game,” he said.

“We can’t let this asset age. We’ve got a lot of capital works planned … I think we will spend well over $50 million in the next financial year on the stadium.”

Fox said officials were surprised at the poor performance of the pitch across the first two days, but praised new curator Matt Page for his work on a deck that had reached the end of its life.

Virat Kohli leads his team off at Perth Stadium. Picture: AAP

“The message is ‘it takes time’, you can’t just rebuild a pitch, a number of pitches, and have them ready for next year,” he said.

“I think we are looking for just better performance of our pitches, a really even contest between bat and ball,” he said.

“I’m not sure we want to produce something like Perth, but something in-between.

“We certainly want to produce pitches that can get a result across four or five days.”

Fox said a number of new pitches would be made once this Test was over.

“We are really committed but we just need a little bit of patience because after this Test is over, we will look to build three-four new pitches, starting from scratch, with a higher clay content, which should produce more bounce and seam movement,” he said.

“But that process takes three years for those pitches, once they’ve started to be built, to completion to actually be sitting out in the middle ready for play.

“I don’t think we will get a poor (pitch) rating again … we are pretty positive.”

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