{"id":919191,"date":"2026-10-07T08:28:15","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:28:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919191\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T08:28:15","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T08:28:15","slug":"cricket-australia-pitches-todd-greenberg-orders-curators-to-prepare-flatter-surfaces-to-avoid-short-test-matches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/919191\/","title":{"rendered":"Cricket Australia pitches: Todd Greenberg orders curators to prepare flatter surfaces to avoid short Test matches"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Daniel<\/p>\n

October 7, 2026 \u2014 4:33pm<\/p>\n

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Durban: Cricket Australia boss Todd Greenberg has revealed he told curators at major venues to prepare flatter pitches for this summer and beyond, amid fears about a recent spate of two-day Test matches<\/a> that have damaged the game\u2019s finances.<\/p>\n

Greenberg\u2019s presence at the annual conclave of groundsmen was unusual by his own admission, but underlined the rising level of concern about matches being played \u201cin fast forward\u201d on grassy pitches with a souped-up Kookaburra ball.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Boxing Day Ashes Test was over in two days.Chris Hopkins<\/p>\n

Three of Australia\u2019s past seven Tests have ended in two days, including the Perth<\/a> and Melbourne Ashes matches<\/a>, which were estimated to have cost around $15 million in lost revenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cI addressed the curators\u2019 conference, not something I thought I\u2019d do,\u201d Greenberg said in Durban. \u201cWhen I arrived, curators have been meeting apparently every year for a number of decades, and it\u2019s been a while since they\u2019ve seen the CEO come and talk. So I think that maybe sent a message.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we\u2019ve said is if you\u2019re erring on which side of the line to roll on, then make it flatter, maybe slightly less grass, because the game has evolved over time. The way batters are batting and players are playing cricket. I\u2019m not sure if our wickets have kept pace with that. The data and the stats certainly tell you that.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am worried about short Test matches over time. I think a one-off is fine. You can deal with it. But over time, if we continue to see that trend, that will hurt the sport. It\u2019ll hurt cricket, both from a commercial lens, but also just the purity of Test cricket and the beauty of a five-day close draw is as much a part of the fabric of Test cricket than a win or a loss, and so I don\u2019t think we want to lose that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Greenberg has previously stated that the MCG and SCG Tests would not be moving in the event of BBL clubs being sold to private investors<\/a> who may want a clear window for the tournament. But he has now conceded there is nothing guaranteed after the expiry of government and broadcast deals in 2032.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo we\u2019ve said in the way we\u2019ve pitched our documents and the way the process would work is the Sydney Test match is contracted right through until 2032, so it\u2019s contracted both with government and it\u2019s also contracted in our broadcast negotiations,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat happens beyond 2032, I think, is a question that we will have to address.<\/p>\n

Editor’s pick\"Travis<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe would like to think that we can retain our Test schedule as it is into the future, but we\u2019re also realistic to understand that we need to keep an open mind to that, and is there another way to do it? So it\u2019s not simple, it\u2019s not binary. But I think the Sydney Test match works really well where it is.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s proven that over time outside of the weather. But again, as I\u2019ve said before, the BBL games that are played on the evenings of a Sydney Test match are some of the highest-rated BBL games we have all summer. So you want to be certain that to change something, you get a better outcome than what you get today.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked about recent NSW opposition to CA\u2019s sale process for BBL teams, which played a large part in forcing the resignation of chair Mike Baird<\/a>, Greenberg effectively said it was now too late to stop.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe project was approved by the CA board last month,\u201d he said. \u201cThe project\u2019s well underway. The Renegades sale process is in market, and we\u2019re expecting that to come to a conclusion before Christmas. And I think what will follow shortly will be a number of other states who are looking to sell 49 per cent and the idea of the self-determination model is for those who don\u2019t want to sell, they don\u2019t have to, and they\u2019re not prescribed to do so.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe sovereignty of their decision-making should be respected. And my view the whole way along has been the sovereignty of those decisions should equally be respected for those who want to sell and those who don\u2019t want to sell, and that\u2019s the model that we\u2019ve built. So change is difficult. I found it quite difficult in Australian cricket because I had tried to align everyone\u2019s interests, and we didn\u2019t get there. So this is where we\u2019ve landed.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve sat with the CA board who have oversight of the game\u2019s national interests. That board made a decision last month to proceed with the project. It was strongly supported by three of six states. There are a number of other states now looking deeply in the model of their position in that, and that will unfold over time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"MikeMike Baird resigned from his role at Cricket Australia.Getty<\/p>\n

Greenberg also addressed concerns raised by Ellyse Perry<\/a> and Beth Mooney that women\u2019s international cricket is being pushed to the fringes of the Australian summer. Top women\u2019s players are in India during January due to the lucrative WPL.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe could play up against WPL, but I know it\u2019s not something our players want us to do, and that\u2019s why we\u2019re not doing it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Related Article\"Australian<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWe just have to work around some of the constraints and try to get creative. Try to play maybe the WBBL later to jam into a later start of the BBL.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be part of the private capital conversation, I think what\u2019s been lost a little bit is how we can use that to grow the WBBL, not just the BBL. And that\u2019s something I\u2019ve spoken to Ellyse about at length about, her desire to see the WBBL take the next step. I\u2019m not sure if we can do that without some assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Friday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\"DanielDaniel Brettig<\/a> is The Age’s chief cricket writer and the author of several books on cricket.Connect via X<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"October 7, 2026 \u2014 4:33pm Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":919192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-919191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919191","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=919191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/919191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/919192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=919191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=919191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=919191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}