‘Good wicket’: MCG curator backed after 17-wicket day

While 53 wickets have now fallen in three days of first-class cricket at the G, Shield players were not blaming the pitch

Victoria captain Peter Handscomb insisted another spicy MCG pitch was a fair surface despite 17 wickets falling on the first day of red-ball cricket at the venue since the Boxing Day Test fiasco.

The ladder-leading Vics were 7-61 in reply to Queensland’s 149 at stumps on day one of their Sheffield Shield contest on the surface that has 3mm less grass than the contentious Ashes strip that contributed to the anticipated clash ending inside two days.

A series of batters looked down at the wicket after their dismissals on Thursday, with 53 wickets having now fallen across the last three days of first-class cricket at the iconic venue.

But Handscomb, the 20-Test batter who has played international and domestic cricket at the MCG for 15 years, said the procession of wickets had more to do with both sides’ accurate bowling.

“I still think it’s a good wicket,” said Handscomb, who was 25no at stumps having watched wickets tumble at the other end through the final session.

“I back Pagey (MCG head curator Matt Page) in with what he’s done here over the last four or five years. I think the wicket has been really, really good.

“Even that Test wicket, I still think was a good wicket. I think we can maybe jump at shadows a little bit here and blame it all on the wicket. Generally, an MCG wicket when you (bat) on day one, if you score 200 runs, you’re happy.”

Test paceman Michael Neser, whose unerring final-session spell earned him figures of 3-9 from nine overs, stressed the Shield pitch was offering less than the Boxing Day one that Matt Page left 10mm of grass on.

“I don’t think it was doing as much,” said Neser, who took four wickets against England during the Melbourne Test in December.

“The (Shield) wicket actually looks half decent but it did do a bit when we were out there. It’s tricky one. I think we’ll judge how it pans out tomorrow.

“It was obviously tricky (to bat on). It was doing a bit here and there. But then there were moments where you felt actually quite comfortable and you could score.”

Page became the most high-profile curator in Australia when he fronted the press following the early finish to the Boxing Day Test that cost Cricket Australia more than $10 million.

Chief executive Todd Greenberg subsequently said CA would consider playing a greater role in pitch preparation after the Ashes opener in Perth also finished inside two days.

Page had previously been credited with transforming the MCG drop-in wickets from lifeless roads into fair, sporting surfaces after only 24 wickets fell in five days during the 2017-18 Ashes Test in Melbourne.

Shield pitches have since had as much as 15mm of grass left on them.

“It’s been a thatchy grass here for four or five years,” said Handscomb. “If you’re good enough to hit the seam, the ball moves. But that’s the art of red-ball cricket.

“I’m impressed in the way Queensland bowled. The balls that got us out all hit the top of off. So that’s good bowling. Our batters know that that question is going to be there in the second innings as well.

“So it’s up to them to find a way to deal with that in the second innings. I back our batters in to deal with it better when that opportunity comes.”

Victoria’s match against Western Australia at the venue in December lasted four days and was praised for being an excellent cricket wicket, with plenty on offer for batters and bowlers. 

At 0-47 after being inserted with their openers having fought through the bulk of the first session, the Bulls would have had few complaints about the surface.

But the Mitch Perry delivery that jagged back considerably to account for Usman Khawaja set the tone for the carnage to come.

Marnus Labuschagne made 10 off 19 before he also got one that seamed back into him, though his lbw dismissal to a fired-up Sam Elliott looked to highlight a misunderstanding over where his stumps were in relation to his feet.

The game went into fast-forward mode from there. Labuschagne’s exit sparked a collapse of 4-13 either side of lunch, with David Moody and Elliott troubling the Queenslanders with extra bounce.

Neser then had the ball on a string. At one stage, he had figures of 3-1 in his sixth over, moving balls extravagantly to account for debutant Dylan Brasher and Perry, while Campbell Kellaway appeared to cop a dubious caught-behind call after several play and misses.

Harry Dixon, batting as an injury substitute after Tom Rogers broke his finger taking a catch in gully, copped the ball that seamed the most through the day with Hayden Kerr moving one a considerable distance back into his stumps.

With Queensland’s first-innings score now looking like a winning one, the visitors will have been grateful Scott Boland was put on ice for this game as Cricket Australia carefully manage his return to cricket after a heavy Ashes workload.

Victoria’s star quick was instead consigned to bowling in the nets to the state’s back-up batters during the morning session.

The Bulls are now sniffing an upset win against Victoria, who are runaway leaders on the Shield standings having dropped just one of their six games so far this season.

“The one thing we said before was don’t go into tomorrow with a pre-conceived idea of what the wicket is going to do,” said Neser. “Just play the conditions that come in front of you.”

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