{"id":375608,"date":"2025-12-28T08:06:08","date_gmt":"2025-12-28T08:06:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/375608\/"},"modified":"2025-12-28T08:06:08","modified_gmt":"2025-12-28T08:06:08","slug":"why-10-millimetres-of-mcg-grass-made-batting-a-nightmare-in-the-ashes-test","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/375608\/","title":{"rendered":"Why 10 millimetres of MCG grass made batting a nightmare in the Ashes Test"},"content":{"rendered":"

Page explained his decision was based on weather conditions, and knowledge that MCG pitches typically don\u2019t deteriorate a lot over the course of a match. When pitches break up, batting becomes harder. If they hold together, it becomes more difficult to get a result.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe left it longer because we knew we were going to get weather at the back end that we knew where we needed our grass at,\u201d Page said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou look back at it and go, \u2018It\u2019s favoured the bowlers too much days one and two.\u2019 If that doesn\u2019t happen we set ourselves up really good for days three and four.\u201d<\/p>\n

So, he acknowledged, it was a miscalculation. It\u2019s worth noting he has left more grass on the pitch for previous Boxing Day Tests: 12mm for the Test against New Zealand in 2019, 11mm against England in 2021 and 8mm against Pakistan in 2022. Those matches lasted three days or longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to go back to where we were in 2017 and our grass is vitally important to what we do,\u201d Page said.<\/p>\n

The 2017 Boxing Day Ashes Test ended in a deathly dull draw and prompted the MCC to replace its drop-in pitches and the base they sit in. Only 24 wickets fell in five days. No one wants to see that.<\/p>\n

What difference does the grass make?<\/p>\n

Put simply, more grass equals more sideways movement off the pitch.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe length of the grass externally means that the ball interacts with the surface; therefore it\u2019s going to have a chance to move more – that\u2019s the fundamental physics,\u201d explains former Australian fast bowler and NSW and Pakistan coach Geoff Lawson said.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The MCG pitch on Christmas Eve.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cSo the longer the grass, the more chance as [the ball] pitches, something will interact with the seam, and it will be more likely to deviate. That makes it harder to bat on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australian captain Steve Smith said it wasn\u2019t just the length of the grass that made batting hard, but a \u201cfurry\u201d thickness that contributed to unpredictable bounce. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis one it probably started quite slow. Not tennis bally [bounce], normally that\u2019s from the moisture of the wicket,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe thickness of the grass, the ball was sitting in the grass, if that makes sense to you. I felt in the first innings I almost chipped one to mid-on playing a defensive shot that sat on the grass.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was tricky to drive the ball because [of] how much the seam was catching the grass and stopping.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the first innings Smith was bowled by a Josh Tongue ball that moved sharply and late. England opener Ben Duckett was caught fending a ball that held up in the surface, illustrating Smith\u2019s point.<\/p>\n

Who is Matt Page?<\/p>\n

Page was recruited to the MCG role from the Western Australia Cricket Association in November 2017 where he worked on the WACA pitch and the newly opened Optus Stadium in Perth.<\/p>\n

He started at the \u2019G only a month before the 2017 Ashes Test, which produced a \u201cpoor\u201d pitch rating from the International Cricket Council.<\/p>\n

It took time – the pitch for the 2018 Test against India was also slow and low – but Page has since earned praise for turning the MCG pitch into the best in the country, and the only Australian venue to have received the top ICC rating in the past three seasons.<\/p>\n

Lawson said he\u2019d been concerned when he heard Smith describe the grass as \u201cfurry\u201d on Test eve, but acknowledged there was no precise formula for preparing a pitch that produces an even contest between bat and ball.<\/p>\n

\"MCG<\/p>\n

MCG curator Matt Page looks on during an Australia nets session on December 24.Credit: Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cThe joy of the game is that it is not a science, it\u2019s an art – I call it an organic game of willow, leather, wind, sun – all that stuff,\u201d Lawson said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt should not be the same everywhere you play.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you want the game to go five days, you don\u2019t want it moving a lot off the seam – as this one did.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lapse of judgement. There\u2019s no doubt about that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Page said he hears feedback from players before every Test but \u201cyou have to go with your gut feel\u201d.<\/p>\n

Where to from here?<\/p>\n

Loading<\/p>\n

The ICC will deliver a pitch rating, but MCC chief executive Stuart Fox has stood by Page and his staff.<\/p>\n

Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg told SEN on Saturday that CA had previously taken a \u201chands off\u201d approach to pitch preparation.<\/p>\n

The MCG has a big two years ahead headlined by the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand next summer and the150th anniversary Test between Australia and England in March 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not suggesting we\u2019re going to go around talking to ground staff, but we do have to have a careful eye on what our expectations are over the course of a summer,\u201d Greenberg said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Page explained his decision was based on weather conditions, and knowledge that MCG pitches typically don\u2019t deteriorate a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":375609,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[43,44,41,39,42,40],"class_list":{"0":"post-375608","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-headlines","8":"tag-headlines","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-top-news","11":"tag-top-stories","12":"tag-topnews","13":"tag-topstories"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375608","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=375608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/375608\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/375609"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=375608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=375608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=375608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}