MELBOURNE: Cricket Australia has ruled out taking greater control over Test pitch preparation, insisting that local curators are best placed to deliver good, unique surfaces despite criticism following the costly Ashes series earlier this year.
Following the two-day finishes in the Perth and MCG Tests, which cost CA nearly AUD 15 million in revenue, the quality of the state pitches came under intense scrutiny.
CA CEO Todd Green had also admitted that short Tests are “bad for business”.
But despite the losses, CA is reluctant to opt for a centralised model.
“It’s inconceivable that we could ever control much more than we do now,” CA’s head of operations Peter Roach was quoted as saying by Australian Associated Press.
“In England, you could put in a central curator to go around or New Zealand, or South Africa, because the wickets and the clays and the climates are so similar.
“In Australia, because they’re so different, you could put the best curator in Australia to a different venue and all of a sudden they’re an also-ran for a while.