Confident of Getting a Good MCG Pitch for Boxing Day Test: Kevin Roberts

Cricket Australia’s chief executive Kevin Roberts has backed the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) staff to deliver a competitive pitch for the Boxing Day Test between Australia and New Zealand.

A Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and Australia at the MCG saw many deliveries bounce awkwardly and strike the batsmen, leading to the match eventually being abandoned.

“We’re really keen to ensure that the MCC doesn’t overreact to the situation in the last Shield game,” Roberts said on Wednesday (December 18). “The great news was that no players were injured in that situation and we learnt a lot from it.



“They’re not overreacting and Matt Page is a master of his craft. We’re looking forward to him expressing that with his team in the Boxing Day pitch. We’re really confident that there won’t be an overreaction and that we’ll see a better balance between bat and ball at the MCG.”

That the strip which that will be used for the Test match isn’t the same as the one used in the Shield match will help matters and Roberts remained confident that the deck is shaping up to be a “proper turf wicket”.

“The condition of pitches at the MCG has been on a significant increase over the last period of time since Matt and the team took the concrete base out from underneath the pitches and replaced it with sand.

“The feedback from the curators is that it feels different to roll, the feedback from the players is that it feels different and even sounds different to play on.

“It sounds like a proper turf wicket now, rather than something that’s more like a concrete deck, so we’re really optimistic about Boxing Day.”