‘Healthy’ MCG pitch lauded by troubleshooter
LEGENDARY pitch curator Les Burdett has given the MCG’s much-maligned wicket his emphatic seal of approval less than a week out from the Boxing Day Test.
Fears Australia and New Zealand would be subjected to a substandard pitch were raised when a Sheffield Shield match between Victoria and Western Australia at the venue was abandoned due to a dangerous surface.
Following that debacle, Burdett, the Adelaide Oval curator for 40 years and adviser to Cricket Australia, was brought in to supervise.
After surveying the pitch prepared by MCG curator Matt Page, Burdett is confident the wicket will be safe and make for an entertaining Test.
“I never say 100 per cent on anything, but I’m 99.99 per cent sure that this is going to be a Test match worth watching because the situation has changed,” he said yesterday.
“It just looks healthy ... you’ll have a pitch that has more life in it than in years gone by because the characteristics and the structure of it has changed.”
The dangerous Shield wicket came about after Page watered it more than usual, in a bid to produce a more lively wicket – as he was urged to by CA and venue operators the MCC. But a change in weather left the pitch too wet, creating dangerous divots as it dried.
It continued a disappointing run for a wicket square widely criticised for producing lifeless, flat surfaces. But alterations have been made under the surface, with the underpinning concrete slab removed.
While Burdett is confident about the pitch, he feels for Page.
“He’s hurting. He loves the game and the industry, and all he wants to do is do the right thing by everybody,” he said.