Australia are set to welcome India with a spicy, fast and bouncy pitch at the Optus Stadium in Perth for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy which starts on the 22nd of November. It is reported that the 22-yard surface is likely to have the characteristics of the popular WACA Stadium in Perth.
The drop-in pitch was drafted into the Optus Stadium last month. It was put together in September and according to ESPNCricinfo, the track comprises of the same clay and grass species as the WACA.
Isaac McDonald who is the head curator at Western Australia admitted that Australia and Perth are known to have pace and bounce. He revealed that they are preparing a surface with good pace, bounce and carry.
“This is Australia, this is Perth… I’m setting ourselves up for really good pace, really good bounce and really good carry. In a perfect world, I want to emulate last year,” Western Australia head curator Isaac McDonald was quoted saying to ESPNCricinfo.
This is going to only the 5th Test match to be played at the Optus. India featured in the maiden Test back in December 2018 where there was appreciable movement, pace and bounce.
Pakistan struggled to cope with pace and bounce at the Optus last year
Last year, Pakistan struggled to cope with the conditions at the venue. Australia got 487 and 233/5 (declared) while the visiting Pakistan side made 271 in the first innings before being bowled out for 89.
About 10 mm of grass was left on the surface for that fixture. Hence, McDonald believes that held together well and both bowling attacks fared well. The Western Australia head curator wants to replicate last year’s pitch for the Border-Gavaskar series opener as well.
“It’s [10 mm] a good starting point. Ten millimetres was pretty comfortable with the conditions that we had [last year] and that held the conditions together nicely for the first few days. Live grass on the pitch is speed. Both bowling units were pretty rapid last year and hoping for much the same this year. But, as we saw last year, good batters were able to take the game on. They put away balls and score runs quickly,” McDonald added.
Pakistan faced Australia in the third ODI at the Optus recently. The four-pronged Pakistan pace attack ripped a weakened Australian batting line-up and won the series 2-1. However, the same pitch won’t be used for the Test match. McDonald is hopeful that the game goes on at least till the end of day four or even day five.
“Every wicket you make is conditions based. You’ve got to back yourself with the conditions and make educated guesses around your moisture content and how much rolling to do. It’s a juggling act but hopefully the match gets into day five or the last session of day four like last year. If we can get some nice cracks forming later in the game…the game takes care of itself,” McDonald explained.
Australia have won all of the previous four Test matches at the Optus. India will have their task cut out, given they were playing on turners against New Zealand recently.
