THE life was sucked out of the Fourth Test by a pitch that had all the pace and bounce of last night’s leftover beer.
England tried, how they tried, but they were confronted by a surface so moribund that it would have broken the heart of any bowler.
And, with Moeen Ali short of form and confidence and hardly used by Joe Root, the option of England’s supposed frontline spinner taking wickets on the fifth day was virtually eliminated.
England taking just two wickets on the final day tells its own story.
Michael Vaughan, the former England captain, summed up the general mood when he tweeted: “Let’s be honest, this pitch is a stinker for Test cricket.”
It was a drop-in pitch, which means it was grown in a tray in a greenhouse away from the ground and literally transported by a giant lorry and dropped into a space in the middle of the ground.
The reason is that, like many other Aussie cricket stadia, the MCG is used for the Aussie Rules football code and players don’t want to be diving around on a rock-hard permanent square.
The other drop-in pitch in Australia in at the Adelaide Oval while the rest of the Test grounds have traditional squares from which 22-yard strips are cut.
CAPTAIN MARVEL England held up by Steve Smith century and flat pitch as Australia battle to draw in Fourth Test
How difficult can it be to produce drop-in pitches with decent pace and bounce?
Certainly, to play the flagship match of the Australian cricketing summer — the Boxing Day Test — on such a flat deck does nobody any favours.
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Perhaps they should bring over some clay and soil from Perth, where the pitch has always had some pace and bounce.
Oh, that’s another thing. The famous WACA ground will not be used for any more Ashes Tests.
In future, they will be played at the new multi-sports Optus Stadium, complete with a drop-in pitch.
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