MCG pitch: Legendary curator called on to save Boxing Day Test
Les Burdett spent four decades nurturing beautiful Adelaide Oval decks. Now the country’s most revered pitch doctor has been tasked with saving the Boxing Day Test.
Cricket
Don't miss out on the headlines from Cricket. Followed categories will be added to My News.
The country’s most revered pitch doctor has answered Cricket Australia’s SOS call and will fly into Melbourne next week to help under-pressure MCG curator Matthew Page break the run of Boxing Day ducks.
The famous ground has become the laughing stock of the Australian summer and Les Burdett – who retired in 2010 after 40 years spent nurturing beautiful Adelaide Oval decks – will be parachuted in at the 11th hour as a consultant.
Boxing Day is in urgent need of rescuing after two consecutive dull Test matches played on lifeless pitches resulted in a dramatic overcorrection on Saturday as a Sheffield Shield match was abandoned because of fears for player safety.
Stream the Australia v New Zealand Domain Test Series Live & Ad-Break Free During Play with KAYO SPORTS. Get your 14-day free trial & start streaming instantly >
Like the MCG, there are concerns over the SCG with Australia’s two showpiece Test matches in danger of being marred by poor pitches.
But Victorian Aaron Finch has inspected the Boxing Day deck and yesterday told the Herald Sun he was “100 per cent confident” that Page would get it right for the upcoming blockbuster against New Zealand.
“The strip they’re using (for Boxing Day) looks like it’s nice and even, there won’t be an issue one bit,” Finch said.
Steve Smith yesterday declared Boxing Day forever belonged at the ‘G.
“It’s been part of tradition of Australian cricket for a long time,” Smith said.
“I’ve had some of my great memories in cricket walking out there on the first morning of Boxing Day and listening to the anthems and you get a shiver down your spine.
“It’s a great occasion and I’d love for Melbourne to keep it.”
Smith said that with so much NRL and AFL played on the SCG, curators faced a hard task sprucing up pitches with life.
Boss of the moss Burdett was called into the SCG after it had a Sheffield Shield game relocated in October.
His old-school methods, favouring touch and feel over data and science, remain highly respected among groundsmen.
Finch said last year’s Boxing Day wicket was “reasonably flat and slow” as India batted Australia out of the match by declaring on 7-443 in the first innings.
Page juiced up Saturday’s Sheffield Shield wicket with so much moisture that it deteriorated and became dangerously unplayable.
But Finch said that if the match started “an hour or two” later it would’ve been dried under the sun and become a “beautiful wicket”.
“It was unfortunate,” Finch said.
“A few of us thought it wouldn’t have been a bad wicket to bat on, either. It was slightly soft but it didn’t look too much different to what we’ve had in the past.
“(The MCG) probably doesn’t break up as much as you see in other surfaces, but I don’t think it ever has a hell of a lot.
“We’ve also had some ordinary weather when we played the first couple of Shield games.
“It’s been freezing cold, in the mid-teens, so you’re not getting access to the sun to dry it out to give it the chance to deteriorate.
“You can’t control the weather but all in all I think he’s produced some bloody good wickets.
“Although we were on the wrong end of the result, the (pitch used against Queensland last month) was a great cricket wicket.”
Originally published as MCG pitch: Legendary curator called on to save Boxing Day Test
Analysis: Battle royale looms at the MCG
A potential Cameron Green sized hole has left Aussie selectors with a huge headache. And after having their first look at how to solve it, it’s now even more unclear, as a 19-year-old and a veteran both made monster hundreds.
Test hopeful and teen star set Shield alight
The national selection chief was in Sydney to watch a rising star carve out a maiden century as Victorian Test hopeful also opened the Sheffield Shield season in style.