{"id":378008,"date":"2025-12-29T10:51:09","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T10:51:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/378008\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T10:51:09","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T10:51:09","slug":"mcg-punished-for-unsatisfactory-pitch-on-boxing-day-as-australia-coach-andrew-mcdonald-defends-curator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/378008\/","title":{"rendered":"MCG punished for \u2018unsatisfactory\u2019 pitch on Boxing Day as Australia coach Andrew McDonald defends curator"},"content":{"rendered":"

The International Cricket<\/a> Council have sanctioned the MCG for producing an \u201cunsatisfactory\u201d wicket for the fourth Ashes<\/a> Test.<\/p>\n

Much of the fallout to the two-day Boxing Day Test<\/a> has centred on the pitch, which was saw 20 wickets fall on the opening day of play.<\/p>\n

England eventually wrapped up a four-wicket victory late on Saturday.<\/p>\n

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

It was the second Ashes Test this series to be finished inside two days after Australia won the opening match in Perth before the third day.<\/p>\n

But unlike Perth Stadium, which was rated as \u201cvery good\u201d, the MCG has fared much worse.<\/p>\n

There are four potential ratings a pitch can receive, with \u201cunsatisfactory\u201d third after \u201cvery good\u201d and \u201csatisfactory\u201d, while \u201cunfit\u201d is the lowest.<\/p>\n

\"AndrewAndrew McDonald inspects the pitch ahead of the Boxing Day Test. Credit: Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cThe MCG pitch was too much in favour of the bowlers,\u201d the ICC\u2019s Jeff Crowe said in his assessment.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith 20 wickets falling on the first day, 16 on the second day and no batter even reaching a half-century, the pitch was \u2018Unsatisfactory\u2019 as per the guidelines and the venue gets one demerit point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the guidelines, an \u201cunsatisfactory\u201d rating refers to a pitch that \u201cdoes not allow an even contest between bat and ball \u2026 by favouring the bowlers too much, with too many wicket-taking opportunities for either seam or spin\u201d.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first time an Australian venue has been punished under the revamped grading system, which was introduced in 2023.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s unlikely to result in any future sanctions.<\/p>\n

A ground needs to be given six demerit points over a five-year period to potentially trigger a 12-month ban, which would be very unlikely in the case of the MCG.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the first \u201cunsatisfactory\u201d rating since Dhaka in Bangladesh copped the same punishment for a 50-over match in October.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were disappointed for the fans holding tickets for days three and four, and also the millions of fans excited to watch the action in Australia and around the world, that the pitch did not provide the MCG\u2019s customary balance between bat and ball.,\u201d Cricket Australia\u2019s chief of cricket James Allsopp said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe appreciate the outstanding work the MCC staff have done over recent years producing excellent Test match pitches.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re confident they will deliver first-rate surfaces for next year\u2019s NRMA Insurance Boxing Day Test against New Zealand and the hugely anticipated 150th Anniversary Test against England in March 2027.\u201d<\/p>\n

MCC curator Matt Page conceded he left too much grass on the pitch when he fronted a packed media conference on Sunday.<\/p>\n

But he has been backed and supported by leading Cricket Australia officials.<\/p>\n

Coach Andrew McDonald defended Page against critics, praising his performance in turning the MCG around from one of the dullest pitches in Australia.<\/p>\n

Page was poached from the WACA after the MCG pitch received a poor rating when only 24 wickets fell across five days in a dull 2017 draw.<\/p>\n

There hasn\u2019t been a drawn Test at the MCG since then, when Alastair Cook batted for 10-and-a-half hours.<\/p>\n

The curator has already received the full backing of MCC boss Stuart Fox, the pair fronting a packed press conference together on Sunday.<\/p>\n

McDonald hailed Page as being \u201coutstanding\u201d at his job and conceded Australia\u2019s batters had to carry some blame for the match ending so quickly.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes these things can happen, but we support him in what he\u2019s done and really proud of the evolution of the MCG.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t want to scare him off and get back to where we were.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s found a nice balance for a long period of time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe we\u2019re a better batting group than that, but what we did there says otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia star Travis Head, who top-scored in the match with 46, also felt sorry for Page.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel for him, it\u2019s bloody tough,\u201d Head said on Sunday.<\/p>\n

– With AAP<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The International Cricket Council have sanctioned the MCG for producing an \u201cunsatisfactory\u201d wicket for the fourth Ashes Test.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":378009,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[571],"tags":[64,63,802,740,1625,3863,588,85,33383],"class_list":{"0":"post-378008","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boxing","11":"tag-cricket","12":"tag-lifestyle","13":"tag-sponsored-content","14":"tag-sport","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-the-ashes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378008","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=378008"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/378008\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/378009"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=378008"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=378008"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=378008"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}