{"id":277051,"date":"2025-11-11T06:21:17","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T06:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/277051\/"},"modified":"2025-11-11T06:21:17","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T06:21:17","slug":"mitchell-starc-defies-cricket-australias-hope-for-five-day-tests-as-curators-urged-to-produce-lively-pitches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/277051\/","title":{"rendered":"Mitchell Starc defies Cricket Australia\u2019s hope for five-day Tests as curators urged to produce lively pitches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mitchell Starc has urged curators to stick to their guns and roll out lively pitches for the Ashes<\/a>, believing any push for Tests to go the distance should be irrelevant.<\/p>\n

Curators will walk a fine line this summer, with Australia\u2019s players desperate for greener wickets they believe can help take down England\u2019s batting.<\/p>\n

At the same time Cricket Australia believe this summer can provide a much-needed financial windfall, with record crowds expected and 13 of a possible 25 days already sold out.<\/p>\n

Know the news with the 7NEWS app: Download today \"Download<\/a><\/p>\n

Starc made his return to red-ball cricket on Monday, taking four Victorian wickets in the Sheffield Shield.<\/p>\n

But he was also on the end of an onslaught from Sam Harper, who took the left-armer for 22 off one over before being caught on the boundary after tea.<\/p>\n

Asked whether he expected England to take a similar approach this summer, Starc made no secret of what he thought of the wicket.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, no doubt, especially if they\u2019re pretty docile wickets like this,\u201d Starc said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know the way they\u2019re trying to play their cricket, so we\u2019ll worry about it next week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starc\u2019s comments come after the SCG had the liveliest Test pitch of the summer last year, with Australia\u2019s win over India coming inside eight sessions.<\/p>\n

\"MitchellMitchell Starc wants lively pitches for the Ashes despite Cricket Australia\u2019s wish for coffer-stuffing Test matches. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

In the past four Australian summers only six Tests across the country have reached day five, with two of those virtually destroyed by rain.<\/p>\n

At the same time, another six Tests have been wrapped up inside either two or three days.<\/p>\n

Administrators generally need to bank on play extending into at least day four to maximise profit, given the final day often requires merely a charity donation to enter.<\/p>\n

But Starc was clear in his message when asked whether he was worried pitches could be made flatter this summer in a bid to extend play.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hope the groundsmen stick to their guns and prepare the wickets they want,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we\u2019re worried about five days of revenue, then there\u2019s bigger problems at hand.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watch the Ashes series live and free on Seven and 7plus Sport<\/a><\/p>\n

Stand-in captain Steve Smith and his deputy Travis Head are among the Australian players to have called for lively wickets to again be produced this summer.<\/p>\n

Averages for batters in the top six have dropped by close to 10 runs per player in Australia this decade to 31.93, compared to 41.47 in the 2010s and 42.39 in the 2000s.<\/p>\n

Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg has indicated his organisation will not interfere.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I could get the roller out myself, I\u2019d be on it,\u201d Greenberg quipped last month.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are competing demands in Australian cricket and I understand that.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s the performance demands and what might suit the teams best. There are commercial returns, which are really important.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut ultimately, I think what we want to see is, in every city, that the wickets play like they should and there\u2019s a great balance between bat and ball.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Cameron Green set for gruelling on-field test ahead of Ashes<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

WBBL wrap: Superstar on fire in 10-wicket domination<\/p>\n

2 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mitchell Starc has urged curators to stick to their guns and roll out lively pitches for the Ashes,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277052,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,56117,740,588,85,33383],"class_list":{"0":"post-277051","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cricket","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-australian-cricket-team","11":"tag-cricket","12":"tag-sport","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-the-ashes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277051","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277051"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277051\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/277052"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277051"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277051"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277051"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}