News Analysis
‘We’ve gone too far’ – the three millimetres behind the storm
Melbourne’s Test pitch curator rarely speaks to the press, let alone less than 24 hours after a match. Yet there was Matt Page, 9 am on what should have been day three, fronting cameras beside Melbourne Cricket Club chief executive Stuart Fox. A small table, a handful of reporters and one obvious question: why leave 10 millimetres of grass on a strip that worked perfectly well at 7 millimetres last year?
“We had a lot of hot weather leading into last year, which makes it a lot easier for us to control our moisture leading in,” Page explained. “So we left more moisture in the top of the pitch last year to … provide that contest early up in the game.”
Last summer’s India Test stretched the full five days and drew praise for balance. This year’s match, by contrast, wrapped up inside 142 overs. No batter reached fifty. For context, Alastair Cook’s unbeaten 244 in 2017 lasted longer, occupying 144.1 overs.
The curator’s reasoning centred on Melbourne’s unreliable summer. With a hotter back-end forecast for this Test, Page felt compelled to hold more grass, fearing an otherwise lifeless surface.
“With the warmer weather forecast, there were concerns the pitch would become too flat without the grass left on,” he said. “I guess our issues here with [no] deterioration and pitches getting very flat has been well documented. We’re really conscious of that. We don’t want to go back to where we were in 2017 and our grass is vitally important to what we do. We don’t get inconsistent bounce, we don’t get deterioration in our pitches.”
Up close, that logic is sound. The MCG’s drop-in squares have been under scrutiny since the 2017 Ashes draw that prompted the ICC to hand out a “poor” rating. Pace and bounce were virtually absent. Page arrived from the WACA the following winter with a clear brief: bring life back into Melbourne’s wicket. The entire drop-in process was redesigned and every tray re-laid.
“Back in 2017 we sat down as an organisation with Cricket Australia and Cricket Victoria, and we decided what do we want our characteristic to be? And that was pace, bounce, seam movement,” Page recalled. “If we don’t have seam movement…”
He left the sentence hanging, but the point was obvious. Without grass, Melbourne risks returning to attritional draws, dull for spectators and players alike. This time, though, the pendulum swung too far the other way. Both sides struggled. Marnus Labuschagne, struck on the gloves early, reflexively dropped his bat in frustration.
Privately, bowlers admitted they were surprised by the movement. Publicly, players stayed diplomatic. One senior Australia batter summed it up off tape: “It did a bit, didn’t it? But that’s cricket. Some go flat, some go green. You adjust.”
No-one is suggesting the curator should be hung out to dry. Page’s record since 2018 has been largely positive. The 2024 Boxing Day surface – that celebrated contest against India – is still fresh in supporters’ minds. Even this fixture offered drama, just compressed into two days. Local quicks exploited seam and carry; spinners barely got a look-in. Television producers loved the edge-snapping sound but sponsors would have preferred five day’s worth of eyeballs.
So what next? Fox indicated no knee-jerk changes, stressing collaboration rather than blame. “Matt’s been outstanding for us,” he told radio shortly after the press conference. “We review every Test, we’ll review this one too. We want competitive cricket over four or five days, that’s the brief.”
Australian coach Andrew McDonald was typically measured. “The curator’s taken ownership,” he said. “We’re not into finger-pointing. Conditions are part of our job to navigate.” A Cricket Victoria high-performance staffer, speaking on background, was more circumspect: “Three millimetres sounds tiny, but on Test strips it can be decisive. Small margins, big consequences.”
The broader conversation is likely to return to drop-in methodology. Unlike the naturally rooted decks at Adelaide or Brisbane, Melbourne’s trays are cultivated off-site, transported in and installed weeks before play. That system offers flexibility – concerts, AFL finals, you name it – yet it also leaves curators wrestling with variables beyond ordinary turf preparation. Grass length, moisture content and roller use become even more delicate calculations.
Page’s admission – “You look back at it, and you go, well, it’s favoured the bowlers too much days one [and] two” – will inform next year’s planning. Expect a return to seven or eight millimetres of grass, a little less moisture beneath and perhaps a gentler opening morning. The forecast, though, remains the wild card. Melbourne can veer from 18°C and drizzle to searing 38°C within 48 hours, and a drop-in cannot be dropped out mid-match.
None of this obscures the underlying aim: a fair contest. Players want it, broadcasters crave it and supporters certainly pay for it. Page still believes the MCG can deliver that balance. “We’re trying to balance that contest between bat and ball over the four or five days, to provide that captivating Test for all,” he stressed.
Errors happen; the key is learning. In the short term, the curator will liaise with Cricket Australia’s pitch consultants, re-run moisture readings and examine grass clippings. In the longer term the MCC may trial new clay ratios or fine-tune its roller schedule. Getting it right 365 days out is impossible. Getting it right more often than not is the job.
If nothing else, this episode underlines how thin the line is between a classic and a collapse. Three millimetres – less than the width of a matchstick – turned a potential five-day epic into a two-day frenzy. Harsh, perhaps, but also a reminder that Test cricket still hinges on soil, weather and guesswork as much as talent.
And that, for many, is part of the charm.
