\u201cWe\u2019ll find out in a week. [They] don\u2019t listen to players, we would have liked to start in Brisbane too,\u201d Starc said.<\/p>\n
Atkinson, who has not played a Test in Australia, said the visitors had been done a favour by the schedule. This will be England\u2019s first match at Perth Stadium, which was bypassed in the last series four years ago due Western Australia\u2019s onerous biosecurity measures to deal with COVID-19.<\/p>\n
\u201cHistory would say it\u2019s probably a good thing we\u2019re not starting at the Gabba,\u201d Atkinson said.<\/p>\n
England are likely to be spared the fire and brimstone initiation in Perth that befell Australia and India 12 months ago when 17 wickets fell on a wild day one.<\/p>\n
Perth Stadium curator Isaac McDonald began pitch preparation a day earlier to ensure this track will not have the same juice. He will aim to have the grass in between eight and 10 millimetres in length in accordance with previous seasons.<\/p>\n
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The deck was still sporting a healthy tinge of green on Wednesday, but there is expectation in the Australian camp of a more sporting surface to start this summer\u2019s marquee series.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s been a bit made of the colour of it, and it\u2019s going to be a green mamba \u2013 I think it\u2019s ready to go now,\u201d Starc said.<\/p>\n
McDonald said cracks will open later in the game, despite temperatures not expected to climb beyond the high 20s to bake the track.<\/p>\n
\u201cEvery year we say the cracking will be there, that\u2019s not going to change,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cWhat I\u2019ve really knuckled down this preparation is ensuring that pace and bounce is spot on for day one to ensure that even battle.\u201d<\/p>\n