'Never seen movement like that': Smith on pitch battle

Four years after the MCG's pitch was formally rated 'poor' because it failed to provide bowlers with sufficient opportunity to take wickets, no less a judge than Steve Smith has declared it offered greater assistance to seamers than any he's encountered across his decade-long Test career.

When it previously hosted an Ashes Test in 2017, the MCG yielded just 24 wickets over five days of a drawn match that prompted the famous ground's landlords (Melbourne Cricket Club) to explore ways of rejuvenating the moribund wicket block.

Last week, the Boxing Day Test was over before it reached its midway point halfway through the third day, with England being skittled for 185 and 68 as Australia won by an innings and 14 runs and sealed the Vodafone Series into the deal.

Smith, whose mastery of seam-friendly England conditions during the 2019 Ashes saw him amass 714 runs at an average of 110, said the batting conditions at the MCG this time around were like nothing he had previously experienced.

The former Australia captain also noted – with wisdom born of retrospect – the best time to bat on such a surface was likely day one when current captain Pat Cummins gave England first use of the pitch, and his bowlers promptly knocked them over in barely 65 overs.

"I've probably never seen any seam movement like that in my life," Smith told reporters today at the SCG where the fourth Vodafone Ashes Test begins on Wednesday.

"One of those balls that (England opener Haseeb) Hameed left that (second) evening when it hit him, that came back like an off-spinner.

"The ball was seaming as far as I've seen in my career on any wicket, so it was never going to be easy for the batters.

"In fact, I think day one was probably the best time to bat, when we sent them in.

"It was a little bit slower and there probably wasn't as many divots on the grass so it was a bit more true in terms of seam movement.

"On day two, day three it started seaming a lot more."

While Smith's surprise was based on recent experience, England skipper Joe Root could understandably be even more shocked given his previous Test outing in Melbourne coincided with his captaincy predecessor Alastair Cook scoring 244 not out in more than 10 hours' batting.

That was only nine runs fewer than Root's team managed in two completed innings last week.

Currently on his third Ashes campaign in Australia, in which time the 31-year-old has yet to experience a win, Root claimed there had been a discernible difference in the Test pitches at Brisbane, Adelaide and Melbourne compared to those that had greeted him on visits past.

"All three look very different to previous tours that I've been on, and they didn't look very similar to the last time we were out here," Root said today.

"I'd say Melbourne was obviously most challenging, it seemed to be the one that was most volatile and misbehaved more than the others.

"But you can find yourself on a number of different surfaces and ultimately you've got to handle them better than the opposition.

"So far, we've not quite managed that."

As for what awaits at the SCG come Wednesday morning's coin toss, neither local lad Smith nor frequent visitor Root claim to hold any insights.

Smith observed he hardly ever gets to play at what is notionally his home ground due to the nature of the international schedule, as shown by the fact he's managed just four first-class appearances (two Tests and two Marsh Sheffield Shield games) at the SCG since the 2017-18 Ashes summer.

However, he ventured that previous experience told him the grass present two days before the Test starts – which is expected to be significantly shaved prior to the first ball – indicated it was unlikely to offer great encouragement to spinners as the match plays out.

"It really depends how the wicket starts," Smith said of the SCG's historic propensities.

"If it starts with a lot of grass on it, it seems to not break up that much whereas if they take all the grass off it's got the ability to break up and probably the footmarks come into play a lot more.

"Looking at this wicket at the moment, there seems to be a fair amount of grass and I daresay it may not take too much spin late in the game which was the old traditional SCG we used to see, which I would like to see personally."

Further clouding predictions as to how the pitch might play is Sydney's weather outlook for the coming week, with varying amounts of rain forecast on each of the Test's scheduled five days.

Rain has become such a regular feature of the annual new year's Test that four of the past seven played at the SCG have ended in draws.

But in each of those matches, the team winning the toss has opted to bat with an average first innings score of just above 450.

As a result, Smith kept his counsel when asked if he felt the fourth Test pitch might follow the template of the first three Ashes matches this summer and offer assistance to seam bowlers.

"It's pretty difficult to say here," Smith said.

"I think sometimes when they keep a bit of the grass on the wicket it does a little bit for the first hour or so and then seems to flatten out and not break up.

"So I'm not really sure.

"They (ground staff) are trying to make it hard from day one and not quite as tacky as it's been previously, with a bit of (wet) weather around.

"I'd like a bit more grass on it if I'm quite honest, but I think our bowlers will enjoy it a bit more with a bit more grass perhaps.

"But then it's a bit of a Catch-22 – if you leave the grass on it probably doesn't break up as much, whereas if you take the grass off (batting in) the second innings becomes a bit harder."

Vodafone Men's Ashes

Squads

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nic Maddinson, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Schedule

First Test: Australia won by nine wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 275 runs

Third Test: Australia won by an innings and 14 runs

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG

Fifth Test: January 14-18, Blundstone Arena