Slow pitch leaves Test up for grabs

In the decades to follow, cricket fans who retain an abiding interest in the Test match format might peruse the day one scorecard from the fourth Magellan Ashes game of 2017-18 and assume it was one of those Melbourne occasions when four seasons struck in the course of a solitary Boxing Day.

Certainly, an end of day bottom line showing Australia’s 244 runs - including a David Warner century at his standard clip of around four runs per over faced – for the loss of just three wickets would suggest a session or so surrendered to rain.

But closer examination of indelible historic records (aka the internet) will reveal that not only did 26 December, 2017 dawn sunny and warm, it remained a blemish-free day in what (even through bleary post-Christmas eyes) can be best summarised as ‘perfect cricket weather’.

So why the aberrant scoreline at a ground that two years earlier under a similar scenario, whereby Australia batted first and surrendered only three wickets after being unwisely sent in by West Indies skipper Jason Holder, saw day one finish with 345 runs piled on?

The answer is only partly that England’s bowlers maintained a more parsimonious strategy than their Caribbean counterparts and is far more attributable to a pitch that has become known around the nation as Australia’s slowest and most benign.

And according to England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker James Anderson (1-43 from 21 overs today), that’s not what the Boxing Day crowd of an imposing 88,172 (only marginally down on the corresponding Ashes fixture four years ago of 91,112, a record for a day’s Test cricket) want to witness.

Nor do the players taking part in the match, for that matter.

“You’d think that the 90,000 that turned up today don’t want to see 244-3,” Anderson said when reflecting upon a day that Australia dominated on balance but England fought back stoically in the middle and final sessions.

“I think people want to see entertaining cricket, especially in an iconic match like a Boxing Day Test at the MCG, people want to see exciting cricket.

“We did our best.

“We didn’t bowl great in that first session (when Australia scored 0-102 and Warner 83no) to add to that excitement, unless you were a David Warner fan.

“But the second session we did all that we could on that pitch.

“I know it wasn’t exciting to watch, it wasn’t exciting to play in when it’s that attritional cricket, but there’s not a lot we can do about it.

“That’s the pitch that we’ve got for the next five days and we have to deal with it.”

From Warner’s perspective, the pitch proved as difficult for batters to hit their groove upon once the ball lost its initial sheen and hardness as it was for bowlers who found no assistance in terms of movement through the air or off the dry, hard surface.

The Australia vice-captain revealed that came as no surprise to the home team, who had consulted players within and outside their playing XI who boasted recent playing experience at the MCG to bring them up to speed on how the ground has evolved in recent summers.

Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh told his teammates of the JLT Sheffield Shield match in which he led Western Australia against Victoria earlier this month, and that ended in a draw when WA openers Will Bosisto and Jono Wells put together a first-wicket stand of 195 on the final day.

Despite the MCG’s reputation for hosting an abrasive wicket block on which reverse swing can become a weapon as the new ball becomes older and softer, there was little evidence of movement or spin for the Bushrangers’ attack that day which was stocked with international players.

Chris Tremain, Scott Boland, Dan Christian, Jon Holland, Fawad Ahmed and Glenn Maxwell to name but a handful.

Intelligence from other former Victoria players suggested that while the wicket on day one was decidedly sluggish, it will only become slower in the days ahead and catches to infielders in front of the wicket will become the most likely mode of dismissal.

The word also came back that while the track is rock hard unrelentingly flat and is unlikely to crack or break over coming days, it also yields little assistance to spin bowlers and the best method of taking wickets is to employ the very tactics that England used today to slow the scoring and glaze the eyes.

That is, attack the stumps while setting fielders in front of the wickets in the hope that batters try to invent strokes in the search for runs that will, in turn, result in them coughing up their wickets.

While it worked against Warner (albeit on a no-ball that cost debutant quick Tom Curran a maiden Test wicket), it’s been tried before against Smith who prides himself on being able to out-bore the best laid plans by backing himself session after session.

For days on end, if needed.

“We had a few conversations around what we could do with the new ball if we batted first, and I just felt the way that I can play (best) was to come out and have a bit more intent to score with the new ball,” Warner said of his stand-out innings of 103 from 151 balls faced.

“I thought the ball started shifting around 20 overs when Jimmy (Anderson) came on for his second spell.

“Hopefully this breaks up a little bit, we saw that there’s going to be a little bit of reverse (swing) today in our first innings.

“It might break up, it might spin.

“I think the advantage we have with Nathan Lyon is that he gets a lot of bounce on the ball and a lot of drift, so with our world class attack as well I think the ball will probably shift a little bit more with our speed.”

But even though Australia boasts bowlers capable of doing what England cannot, which is regularly break 145km/h on the speed gun, it’s unlikely they’ll be lining up with an umbrella-like slips cordon as was the case back when Dennis Lillee was in his pomp.

Instead, Warner has foreshadowed that the blueprint for which Anderson was unreservedly apologetic this evening will be implemented by the host team when it is finally their turn to bowl.

“It’s about the way England bowled that second session, drying up the runs and bowling to straight fields – that’s the way that you’re going to have to do it,” Warner said tonight.

“You’re going to have to build pressure, and that’s the way you’re going to have to take 20 wickets.”

2017-18 International Fixtures

Magellan Ashes Series

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird.

England Test squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson (vc), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

First Test Australia won by 10 wickets. Scorecard

Second Test Australia won by 120 runs (Day-Night). Scorecard

Third Test Australia won by an innings and 41 runs. Scorecard

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21