MCG groundscrew prepare the pitch during a break on day four of the India-Australia third test match. GETTY IMAGES
Melbourne Cricket Club CEO Stuart Fox revealed four new pitches "will be grown under a multi-million dollar rebuild" but confirmed it will take up to three years before "they are good enough for international cricket," according to Jon Pierik of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The Melbourne Cricket Ground has been "under growing pressure to produce pitches with more life," an issue that "exploded" last summer when the drop-in Ashes deck was branded "poor" by the Int'l Cricket Council. There was more criticism after the opening two days of the pitch used against India, for only seven wickets had fallen "on what was another lifeless deck." Fox said, "I was a little bit surprised with the poor performance of the pitch on day one." MCG curator Matt Page had previously worked on moisture levels and providing a sand base under the pitch for the India-Australia test, but Fox said that "major changes were required." He said, "Once this Test is over, we will look to build probably three to four new pitches, starting from scratch with a higher clay content, which should produce more bounce and seam movement. But that process takes three years for those pitches, once they have started to be built, to completion, to be actually sitting out in the middle ready for play. Three years is a long time" (SMH, 12/30). In Sydney, Andrew Faulkner reported the new pitches will have a "greater percentage of clay," which will be sourced from within Victoria -- the MCC will not truck in soil from Adelaide or Perth. But it will be copying Adelaide's "post and rail" method of supporting the drop-ins, replacing the MCG's concrete base at the end of this season. Fox said, "There's no doubt (after) 15 years of service with these pitches, we think they're coming up to their use-by date" (THE AUSTRALIAN, 12/31).
