The forecast is in for what the MCG pitch is likely to dish up on one of the biggest days on the Australian sporting calendar
Melbourne Cricket Club curator Matt Page is aiming to replicate the pitch for the best Test he has been involved in.
Last year’s Boxing Day Test was decided late on day five, as Australia collected seven wickets in the final session to stun India and go 2-1 up in the battle for the Border-Gavaskar trophy.
During Page’s time in charge, the MCG wicket has gradually become one of the best wickets in Australia.
After the infamous road in 2017 that yielded just 24 wickets across five days, the Boxing Day Test has not produced a draw in the seven since.
“Epic,” Page said when recalling last year’s thriller.
“It’s probably the best Test match I have been involved with.
“The contest throughout, the ebbs and flows, one team was up, then the next team was up, all three results were still possible on day five.
“It was a fantastic Test match, so if we can replicate this year that would be fantastic.
“It would be great to replicate what we did last year, but I guess we’ll see how it all pans out in coming days.”
Even if this year’s contest against England can’t match the heights of 12 months ago, Page is still confident of a pitch that will bring about entertaining cricket.
“You go back to South Africa (in 2022), it was a really good contest,” he said.
“Pakistan, four-day Test, but really, really exciting (and) captivating.
“Then last year was captivating as well.
“For us, we’ve sort of found a recipe that works here and I think the last couple of years have been really good.
“We don’t see any reason why we would change that up.”
Due to recent wet weather, Page is still undecided on how much grass will be left on the pitch ahead of the first ball on Friday.
“We were seven or eight (mm of grass) last year,” he said.
“The next couple of days, with the way the weather is, a few showers on Christmas Day and then obviously we’ll get some heat day three, day four.
“We’ll keep monitoring it.”
2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men’s Ashes
First Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets
Third Test: Australia won by 82 runs
Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10:30am AEDT
Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT
Australia squad (fourth Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster
England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue
