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MCG Pitches

Timbo

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
20,270
The drop in pitches at the MCG just aren't good enough. They're flat, dead monstosities which just make for boring as batshit tests.

The problem is the AFL, and their not wanting their marquee ground to have player injuries.

I was thinking a possible solution could be that the Boxing Day Test be the only game of cricket to be played annually at the MCG and played on an actual grown-in wicket to get a good test match, with limited overs matches moved elsewhere. The AFL would then get the ground back three months earlier to prepare the ground.

You could go:

ODI/T20Is --> Etihad. (48,000)
Melb. Stars --> Kardinia Park, Geelong. (35,000)
Victoria Shield --> Punt Road Oval (5,000).

The ODIs, T20Is and BBL are fine on drop in decks, and Punt Road would have real pitches for the shield. The only one of the above which needs a bigger capacity than what is available are the Stars for their derby against the Renegades, but I would gladly cop that drop in crowd for a decent Boxing Day pitch.

And please don't bang on about your hatred of AFL and how it should just f**k off. I think it's awful too, but the fact is Victorians love it and it's always going to win the argument down there
 

Red Bear

Referee
Messages
20,882
Punt road has no pitch and richmond cricket club has moved away. Im pretty sure Junction oval is getting done up for another first class venue in Melbourne however. Maybe this is the end game of this.
 

Twizzle

Administrator
Staff member
Messages
150,734
The problem is the AFL, and their not wanting their marquee ground to have player injuries.

I think you'll find the problem is the MCG trust, they make so much money out of AFL it pays their way, not to mention the fact that fast Eddie is on the MCG trust.

I'd love to know what the total attendance is over the 5 days, I dont reckon they would have broke the 100K over 5 days.
 

Timbo

Moderator
Staff member
Messages
20,270
Punt road has no pitch and richmond cricket club has moved away. Im pretty sure Junction oval is getting done up for another first class venue in Melbourne however. Maybe this is the end game of this.

Cool, I knew it was one of the old VFL grounds. Junction Oval then.
 

AlwaysGreen

Immortal
Messages
47,822
We're probably never going to have a decently prepared pitch at the mcg and I'd say the drop in is here to stay.

Maybe more research and prep needs to be put into developing a decent drop in wicket.
 

steggz

Juniors
Messages
1,410
Part of the problem with this test was how much time it spent under covers. No pitch is going to deteriorate enough with a similar scenario.

Re: attendance, it was around 120k from what I heard on ABC, with 63k from day 1
 

Pete Cash

Post Whore
Messages
61,832
The adelaide pitch is fine. The problem is the mcg curators and i think they just dont want us dicking asian teams in 3 days on a good wicket.

The pitch was more like a traditional melbourne pitch for the 2013 test. 2014 was real flat australia scored 500 and india scored high 400s, australia could have deadset scored 1000 runs on it in 2015 against the windies and 2016 well we saw what was dished up.

Without the rain what would have happened is Pakistan would have scored like 460, australia would have scored 700+ and australia would have still won by an innings but in 4 days. So the rain at least added some excitement.

I wouldnt be shocked if there is more in it for the bowlers next year for the ashes
 

hineyrulz

Post Whore
Messages
148,287
The worst thing about our win was f**kheads like Warne will say what a great pitch it was, it wasn't it was absolute shit.
 

T-Boon

Coach
Messages
15,146
If they are going to continue to play on pitches like that you should be allowed to take a new ball every 40 over or something. Its probably time they brought that in anyway to address the advantage that batsmen have acquired over the years.
 

undertaker

Coach
Messages
10,816
The drop in pitches at the MCG just aren't good enough. They're flat, dead monstosities which just make for boring as batshit tests.

When I went on the National Sports Museum tour at the MCG in 2011 and had a short talk with the tour guide during a break, he told me the MCG management - due to the AFL administration - have been using drop-in pitches since around the early-mid '90s. Since then, over the past 20-25 years or so, there have only been about a handful of Boxing Day tests that offered a lot for the bowlers (1998 comes to mind, where we lost to England by 12 runs).



I was thinking a possible solution could be that the Boxing Day Test be the only game of cricket to be played annually at the MCG and played on an actual grown-in wicket to get a good test match, with limited overs matches moved elsewhere. The AFL would then get the ground back three months earlier to prepare the ground.

You could go:

ODI/T20Is --> Etihad. (48,000)
Melb. Stars --> Kardinia Park, Geelong. (35,000)
Victoria Shield --> Punt Road Oval (5,000).

The ODIs, T20Is and BBL are fine on drop in decks, and Punt Road would have real pitches for the shield. The only one of the above which needs a bigger capacity than what is available are the Stars for their derby against the Renegades, but I would gladly cop that drop in crowd for a decent Boxing Day pitch.

And please don't bang on about your hatred of AFL and how it should just f**k off. I think it's awful too, but the fact is Victorians love it and it's always going to win the argument down there

I have been long saying that ODIs in Melbourne - especially those that don't involve England or India (the two largest drawing overseas sides) - should be played at Etihad. 48k is the right capacity, and the crowd would look and sound good on tv. It was very embarrassing to see only 20k turn out for the recent ODI vs NZ (albeit it was a dead rubber). Looked like a ghost town on tv. However, I do believe Cricket Australia signed an agreement with the MCG since 2006 (after the redevelopment, just before the Commonwealth Games) that all international matches have to be played at the MCG.

Keep the Boxing Day Test at the MCG, but improvements need to be made to the pitch, especially in light of the 500+ run 1st innings totals that have been regular over the past few years or so.

In regards to the Stars playing at Geelong, not going to happen. In fact, depending on the next BBL tv rights and the possibility of expansion, Geelong and Canberra are the two favourites to be have a new franchise included into the BBL. Geelong will host a T20 international vs Sri Lanka in February and will be interesting to see how that turns out, given it has the largest stadium capacity in Australia outside the 5 metros.

The pitch at Geelong is going to be a problem, due to the extremely short square boundary. As a result, to meet ICC standards, the pitch is going to have to be rotated 45 degrees (much like the old Eden Park before the 2011 Rugby World Cup):

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au...m/news-story/6bba882de1a69b8ee3c29110310b62ff
 

OVP

Coach
Messages
11,623
All the pitches in Australia suck, and they've sucked for the last 10-15 years. We used to have a huge variety of different types of pitches in Australia, now they're all roads favouring the batsmen. No wonder we've had so many injuries to our topline bowlers, there is very little in our pitches for them anymore. This also means our batsmen don't do as well overseas anymore, as they're not getting regular practice in different types of conditions and pitches. It's laughable watching Australia bat on a green top in England these days.

The Gabba used to be a seaming greentop for a day or even two, then it'd spin. Now it's just a road.
Perth was so bouncy and hard it was like playing with a golf ball on cement. Now it's just a road.
Sydney used to spin as much as Indian pitches, now it's just a road.
Melbourne used to have lots of variable bounce after some early swing and seam for a day. Now ...
Adelaide was always a road, but there used to be a bit for the bowlers if they bent their back. Seems to be pretty much the same now. About the only one that hasn't changed much.

I blame James Sutherland because he is totally focused on making money. He seems to think if pitches suit the batsmen more, then more people will show up through the gates. I don't believe this is true, maybe for the T20 crap, but certainly not for Tests or even 1-dayers. Just for once, I'd like to see a cricket match in this country where the bowlers dominate instead of the batsmen. It's so meh, I can't watch it anymore. Bring on the footy ffs.
 

hineyrulz

Post Whore
Messages
148,287
Spot on about James Suthertard, money is all this gimp cares about not the game itself. We can't have anymore 3 days tests so roads it is!!!
 

Bazal

Post Whore
Messages
99,404
I'm starting to wonder if a bigger overall issue isn't the balls, tbh. Yeah the MCG is a disgraceful wicket and the WACA has had a shocker recently against NZ, but the others all still have a bit in them. The Gabba was a perfectly fine wicket, as was Adelaide, and this SCG pitch is turning already, it's just that neither of our spinners are big turners of the ball and Yasir probably hasn't got any ligaments left in his wrist with the amount of overs he's bowled this summer so he was only giving the odd ball any real rip. Still spun it into the cordon a few times though when he did rip it, and Azhar got a couple past the edge as well, so the wicket is obviously conducive to spin.

Apart from Hobart, where Nathan Lyon could have probably hooped it, when was the last time we saw real swing in Australia? Used to be the first session most days on almost all Aussie grounds the ball would swing at least a bit. It's not like we haven't had swing bowlers going around either. Amir and Starc are probably two of the better swingers of a ball in world cricket at the moment and they've had almost nothing doing....
 

Pete Cash

Post Whore
Messages
61,832
Australian pitches have been called flat forever. In fact flat pitches produce better cricketers in the long run. The proof is in the pudding. Our first class system wouldnt allow a plodder like Colin de grandhomme to get wickets. Bowlers end up having to be tall and fast and accurate (or at least a combination of those factors)

However i do agree that the pitches have been too flat the back half of the summer. I think its because of that indian tour 6 years ago where cricket australia lost money. I doubt you will see asian countries on fast bouncy pitches ever again unless there is the possibility they might beat us

Same with giving nz and the windies flat pitches.

Cricket australia worries that we will just belt asians/minnows all over the place anyway and then bowl them out for 100
 

JJ

Immortal
Messages
31,738
Think you get better fast bowlers and wrist spinners

But at the end of the day you have Cartwright at #6 and we have Colin, the difference is simply in some conditions Colin gets wickets over here, but like Cartwright he's primarily a mediocre middle order bat
 

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