{"id":349052,"date":"2025-12-15T07:09:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T07:09:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/349052\/"},"modified":"2025-12-15T07:09:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-15T07:09:10","slug":"narrative-flipped-on-traditionally-flat-adelaide-oval-pitch-ahead-of-third-ashes-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/349052\/","title":{"rendered":"Narrative flipped on traditionally flat Adelaide Oval pitch ahead of third Ashes Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alex Carey has warned Adelaide may not be the batter\u2019s paradise England<\/a> expect, with data showing the wicket won\u2019t necessarily be easier to bat on with a red ball.<\/p>\n

Staring down the barrel of an irredeemable 3-0 series deficit<\/a>, England coach Brendon McCullum predicted on Sunday that the Adelaide pitch would suit England\u2019s style this week.<\/p>\n

The tourists are known to prefer flatter wickets, with England\u2019s home pitches becoming better for batting in recent years.<\/p>\n

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

Adelaide has traditionally provided just that, being long regarded as the best wicket in Australia to bat on over the past 50 years, prior to the introduction of a pink ball.<\/p>\n

But the numbers now suggest otherwise, regardless of ball colour.<\/p>\n

While only two red-ball Tests have been played at the ground over the past 10 years, the highest team total in either of them is India\u2019s 307 against Australia in 2018.<\/p>\n

Wickets have in fact fallen at a quicker rate than in pink-ball matches, with batting averages also lower in red-ball games.<\/p>\n

Statistically, only Bellerive has proven a harder venue for players to score runs in Tests over the past decade, when accounting for both day and day-night Tests.<\/p>\n

Speaking at a Cooper\u2019s Pale Ale promotion, local boy Carey said it was wrong to think Adelaide was only good for batters.<\/p>\n

\"AlexAlex Carey says Adelaide Oval won’t be the batter’s paradise many people might expect. Credit: AAP<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of flatness, I think Adelaide is very consistent, which doesn\u2019t make it a batting paradise the whole time,\u201d Carey said<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is always something with the new ball, but there is always something for the batters to score big runs.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love playing here, Trav (Head) loves playing here, the Australian cricket team loves playing here. I think there will be enough in it for bat and ball.<\/p>\n

\u201cSheffield Shield wickets this year have been great for batting and bowling. A bit of spin comes into it late.\u201d<\/p>\n

Potentially working into England\u2019s favour is the fact the pitch doesn\u2019t traditionally offer as much bounce as Perth and the Gabba, where the tourists have been well beaten.<\/p>\n

Seven centuries have been scored on it across four Shield games this summer, in a season where the Gabba has been the most batter-friendly of all Test venues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think these conditions should suit our style a little bit better as well,\u201d McCullum said.<\/p>\n

\u201c(They) are going to be quite different to what we\u2019ve faced in both the Gabba and at Perth as well.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just need to chisel away at some of the things we haven\u2019t got quite right and make sure that we still have that conviction in what we\u2019re trying to achieve.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t mean we couldn\u2019t have been a success from previously, but this is probably more attuned to our best style of cricket.\u201d<\/p>\n

Batting averages by Test venue over the past decade<\/p>\n

SCG: 36.38<\/p>\n

MCG: 30.54<\/p>\n

Gabba: 28.39<\/p>\n

Adelaide Oval (day-night): 28.07<\/p>\n

Perth Stadium: 27.23<\/p>\n

Adelaide Oval (day): 22.77<\/p>\n

Bellerive Oval: 18.40<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

BBL players given emergency phone access during Bondi tragedy<\/p>\n

1 min read<\/p>\n

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

Ashes cricket great trapped in Bondi shooting tragedy<\/p>\n

3 min read<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alex Carey has warned Adelaide may not be the batter\u2019s paradise England expect, with data showing the wicket…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":349053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,56117,740,1625,3863,588,85,33383],"class_list":["post-349052","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-cricket-team","tag-cricket","tag-lifestyle","tag-sponsored-content","tag-sport","tag-sports","tag-the-ashes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349052","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=349052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/349052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/349053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=349052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=349052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=349052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}