Shock rating: MCC taken aback by Boxing Day Test pitch ‘average’ grade

The MCG was handed the lowest possible pass mark for its Boxing Day Test pitch in a shock grading that has surprised ground officials and raised further questions over the rating system used in international cricket.

Match referee David Boon’s assessment of the seam-friendly MCG deck as “average” places the strip only one grade higher than the lifeless surface rolled out for the bore draw in Rawalpindi last week.

The overriding view among players, commentators and officials that the pitch in Melbourne has steadily improved after the debacle of 2017 is surprisingly at odds with the ratings from the International Cricket Council.

The latest mark follows grades of “very good” and “good” for the Tests in 2019 and 2020 against New Zealand and India respectively, in which outright results were delivered.

The MCG received a mark of “average” for the 2021 Boxing Day Test pitch.Credit: Getty Images

There is a private view among officials that MCC curator Matt Page and his team have paid the price for England’s incompetence with the bat.

The Boxing Day Test finished before lunch on the third day after England collapsed for the second time in the game to be dismissed for 68 by a rampant Australia pace attack led by debutant Scott Boland.

Australia scored 267 in its only innings, suggesting the pitch was not the minefield as indicated by the performances of the visiting batters.

The MCC, which runs the ground, were taken aback by Test great Boon’s assessment.

“It was a bit of a surprise to us considering the previous two years’ results of very good and good,” MCC chief Stuart Fox said in a statement to The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.

“The pitch delivered a result, there was something in it for both bat and ball and I think if you asked a fan, they’d say they very much enjoyed watching the cricket the 2021 Boxing Day Test produced.

“The result doesn’t change our trajectory though, we continue to seek out the one per cent improvements in our quest of always delivering a pitch that is befitting of the home of sport.”

Champion batter Steve Smith said the MCG pitch was “seaming as far as I’ve seen in my career on any wicket”, but there was enough assistance on day one for spinner Nathan Lyon to claim three wickets, which is in keeping to what constitutes a “good” rating for the ICC.

It is the second season in a row Australian batting great Boon, considered a hard marker, has raised eyebrows with his pitch assessments. Boon’s grades for the four tracks in the 2020/21 series against India were one rung lower than the previous summer.

The Gabba was also awarded a marking of “average” despite its Test entering a fifth day while Adelaide received the highest possible grade of “very good”.

The SCG was handed a positive grade though ratings for the Sydney and Hobart Tests have not been released by the ICC despite being played in January.

The MCG has not been docked any demerit points as they kick in only for ratings worse than “below average”. The venue has overhauled its pitch preparation methods since it was embarrassed by a rating of “poor” for the 2017 Test, the worst ever rating by the ICC for an international fixture in Australia.

The match referee adjudicating in that game, Ranjan Madugalle, delivered a mark of “below average” for the pitch at Rawalpindi, in which 1187 runs were scored at a cost of 85 runs apiece. The 24 wickets which fell in the 2017 Boxing Day Test came at a cost of 45.

Rawalpindi, staging Pakistan’s first Test against Australia in more than 23 years, was penalised with one demerit point but a rating of “poor” would have seen it docked three points, leaving it just two points shy of the five which results in the venue being stripped of international status for 12 months. This sanction came into effect in 2018, days after the 2017 Ashes Test in Melbourne.

Feedback from the captains is taken but it is the match referee who delivers the final grading. Boon declined to comment when contacted by this masthead, while the ICC had not responded prior to deadline.