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“You’d think that the 90,000 that turned up today don’t want to see 244-3" : James Anderson

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In the decades to follow, cricket fans who retain an abiding interest in the Test match format might peruse the day one scorecard from the fourth Magellan Ashes game of 2017-18 and assume it was one of those Melbourne occasions when four seasons struck in the course of a solitary Boxing Day.

Certainly, an end of day bottom line showing Australia’s 244 runs - including a David Warner century at his standard clip of around four runs per over faced – for the loss of just three wickets would suggest a session or so surrendered to rain.

But closer examination of indelible historic records (aka the internet) will reveal that not only did 26 December, 2017 dawn sunny and warm, it remained a blemish-free day in what (even through bleary post-Christmas eyes) can be best summarised as ‘perfect cricket weather’.

So why the aberrant scoreline at a ground that two years earlier under a similar scenario, whereby Australia batted first and surrendered only three wickets after being unwisely sent in by West Indies skipper Jason Holder, saw day one finish with 345 runs piled on?

QUICK SINGLE
Super Smith has Australia on top
The answer is only partly that England’s bowlers maintained a more parsimonious strategy than their Caribbean counterparts and is far more attributable to a pitch that has become known around the nation as Australia’s slowest and most benign.

And according to England’s all-time leading Test wicket-taker James Anderson (1-43 from 21 overs today), that’s not what the Boxing Day crowd of an imposing 88,172 (only marginally down on the corresponding Ashes fixture four years ago of 91,112, a record for a day’s Test cricket) want to witness.

Nor do the players taking part in the match, for that matter.

“You’d think that the 90,000 that turned up today don’t want to see 244-3,” Anderson said when reflecting upon a day that Australia dominated on balance but England fought back stoically in the middle and final sessions.


WATCH: Anderson feels for Test debutant

“I think people want to see entertaining cricket, especially in an iconic match like a Boxing Day Test at the MCG, people want to see exciting cricket.

“We did our best.

“We didn’t bowl great in that first session (when Australia scored 0-102 and Warner 83no) to add to that excitement, unless you were a David Warner fan.

“But the second session we did all that we could on that pitch.

“I know it wasn’t exciting to watch, it wasn’t exciting to play in when it’s that attritional cricket, but there’s not a lot we can do about it.

“That’s the pitch that we’ve got for the next five days and we have to deal with it.”

From Warner’s perspective, the pitch proved as difficult for batters to hit their groove upon once the ball lost its initial sheen and hardness as it was for bowlers who found no assistance in terms of movement through the air or off the dry, hard surface.


WATCH: Warner given life on 99

The Australia vice-captain revealed that came as no surprise to the home team, who had consulted players within and outside their playing XI who boasted recent playing experience at the MCG to bring them up to speed on how the ground has evolved in recent summers.

Australia all-rounder Mitchell Marsh told his teammates of the JLT Sheffield Shield match in which he led Western Australia against Victoria earlier this month, and that ended in a draw when WA openers Will Bosisto and Jono Wells put together a first-wicket stand of 195 on the final day.

Despite the MCG’s reputation for hosting an abrasive wicket block on which reverse swing can become a weapon as the new ball becomes older and softer, there was little evidence of movement or spin for the Bushrangers’ attack that day which was stocked with international players.

Chris Tremain, Scott Boland, Dan Christian, Jon Holland, Fawad Ahmed and Glenn Maxwell to name but a handful.

Intelligence from other former Victoria players suggested that while the wicket on day one was decidedly sluggish, it will only become slower in the days ahead and catches to infielders in front of the wicket will become the most likely mode of dismissal.

The word also came back that while the track is rock hard unrelentingly flat and is unlikely to crack or break over coming days, it also yields little assistance to spin bowlers and the best method of taking wickets is to employ the very tactics that England used today to slow the scoring and glaze the eyes.

That is, attack the stumps while setting fielders in front of the wickets in the hope that batters try to invent strokes in the search for runs that will, in turn, result in them coughing up their wickets.

While it worked against Warner (albeit on a no-ball that cost debutant quick Tom Curran a maiden Test wicket), it’s been tried before against Smith who prides himself on being able to out-bore the best laid plans by backing himself session after session.

For days on end, if needed.

“We had a few conversations around what we could do with the new ball if we batted first, and I just felt the way that I can play (best) was to come out and have a bit more intent to score with the new ball,” Warner said of his stand-out innings of 103 from 151 balls faced.

“I thought the ball started shifting around 20 overs when Jimmy (Anderson) came on for his second spell.

“Hopefully this breaks up a little bit, we saw that there’s going to be a little bit of reverse (swing) today in our first innings.

“It might break up, it might spin.

“I think the advantage we have with Nathan Lyon is that he gets a lot of bounce on the ball and a lot of drift, so with our world class attack as well I think the ball will probably shift a little bit more with our speed.”

But even though Australia boasts bowlers capable of doing what England cannot, which is regularly break 145km/h on the speed gun, it’s unlikely they’ll be lining up with an umbrella-like slips cordon as was the case back when Dennis Lillee was in his pomp.

Instead, Warner has foreshadowed that the blueprint for which Anderson was unreservedly apologetic this evening will be implemented by the host team when it is finally their turn to bowl.

“It’s about the way England bowled that second session, drying up the runs and bowling to straight fields – that’s the way that you’re going to have to do it,” Warner said tonight.

“You’re going to have to build pressure, and that’s the way you’re going to have to take 20 wickets.”


2017-18 International Fixtures

Magellan Ashes Series

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), David Warner (vc), Cameron Bancroft, Usman Khawaja, Peter Handscomb, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (wk), Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Jackson Bird.

England Test squad: Joe Root (c), James Anderson (vc), Moeen Ali, Jonny Bairstow, Jake Ball, Gary Ballance, Stuart Broad, Alastair Cook, Mason Crane, Tom Curran, Ben Foakes, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ben Stokes, Mark Stoneman, James Vince, Chris Woakes.

First Test Australia won by 10 wickets. Scorecard

Second Test Australia won by 120 runs (Day-Night). Scorecard

Third Test Australia won by an innings and 41 runs. Scorecard

Fourth Test MCG, December 26-30. Tickets

Fifth Test SCG, January 4-8 (Pink Test). Tickets

Gillette ODI Series v England

First ODI MCG, January 14. Tickets

Second ODI Gabba, January 19. Tickets

Third ODI SCG, January 21. Tickets

Fourth ODI Adelaide Oval, January 26. Tickets

Fifth ODI Perth Stadium, January 28. Tickets

Prime Minister's XI

PM's XI v England Manuka Oval, February 2. Tickets

Gillette T20 trans-Tasman Tri-Series

First T20I Australia v NZ, SCG, February 3. Tickets

Second T20I – Australia v England, Blundstone Arena, February 7. Tickets

Third T20I – Australia v England, MCG, February 10. Tickets

Fourth T20I – NZ v England, Wellington, February 14

Fifth T20I – NZ v Australia, Eden Park, February 16

Sixth T20I – NZ v England, Seddon Park, February 18

Final – TBC, Eden Park, February 21

http://www.cricket.com.au/news/mixe...-ashes-james-anderson-david-warner/2017-12-26
 
Wonder what people would have thought if this pitch was in UAE or India?
 
All year round we have fans from both countries talk about this series only for it to produce some of the most numbingly average and B.O.R.I.N.G cricket when they meet.

Even the damn players are bored :rp

If only the fans would catch on and see it for what it is.
 
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The crowds have been good, but this series has shown Tests gots to go.

If this is considered good cricket or one of the key fixtures for the game, the sport doesn't have a future.
 
Australian pitches have become far too flat. What makes it worse is the Kookaburra ball which doesn't offer any swing after the first 15 overs.

People want to see a fair contest between bat and ball, but instead curators seem to want to give the associations and boards a fifth day.
 
Australian pitches have become far too flat. What makes it worse is the Kookaburra ball which doesn't offer any swing after the first 15 overs.

People want to see a fair contest between bat and ball, but instead curators seem to want to give the associations and boards a fifth day.

Uhmm maybe check how many tests aus wins.
Just look at the current series 3 - 0. Results are possible

Asian teams never win a series in aus. They are just 2 good.
 
Uhmm maybe check how many tests aus wins.
Just look at the current series 3 - 0. Results are possible

Asian teams never win a series in aus. They are just 2 good.

Obviously their bowlers get more out of the surfaces as they've grown up in these conditions.
 
Nonsense posts in here. The first 2 tests were thrilling, neck & neck for 3 days & then some great cricket produced to win it. Last couple Oz has dominated but that's the risk of a 5 test series- sometimes a team totally crumbles but without 5 tests you can never get a 2005 type epic.

I'll bet Cummins & Hazlewood get something out of this pitch. England looking for answers anywhere except in the mirror.
 
No one had to watch todays boring ashes match, there was an alternative they could have watched a good quality match between NZ and the WI.

It is not compulsory to watch the ashes it is purely up to the individual to watch only if they want to.
 
Let's wait till England's innings to comment on the pitch. Australia had a similar slow approach in Adelaide and went to crush England.
 
Australian decks have been flat for years, but England will be nothing better than 95/4 in their effort - just wait and watch.
 
This series has been as flat as the pitches.
 
England will point to a flying sparrow's left...er...eye malfunction to distract from where they are in the series.

If Australia were 244 for 9, England would have been praising the pitch and the adaptation of their bowlers to alien conditions.

They got 3 wickets.
 
He shud just go and cry somewhere.
This is utter nonsense... just keeps speaking nonsense all the time.
 
Wonder what people would have thought if this pitch was in UAE or India?

They would say it is one where you have to be patient, and might yet see a thrilling test match.
 
Obviously their bowlers get more out of the surfaces as they've grown up in these conditions.

No. They have something ENG doesnt have and its called PACE.

Except SA and perhaps India all other teams batting in AUS will get destroyed.
 
No one had to watch todays boring ashes match, there was an alternative they could have watched a good quality match between NZ and the WI.

It is not compulsory to watch the ashes it is purely up to the individual to watch only if they want to.


This.

Test cricket is as alive as it's ever been in Australia.
 
No. They have something ENG doesnt have and its called PACE.

Except SA and perhaps India all other teams batting in AUS will get destroyed.

I don't deny the quality of the Australian pace attack but there's also something called scoreboard pressure which is easier to build when pitches are so flat, the ball does nothing and opposition bowlers cannot adjust to conditions.

In this decade, the two most batting friendly countries in Test cricket have been Bangladesh and Australia in terms of batting average - 34.43 in Australia, even marginally ahead of the UAE (33.92). Australia has also seen the highest economy rate for bowlers (3.33) and second highest bowling average (36.02). No guesses for which country has scored the highest number of 500+ scores at home. So are you seriously saying the pitches aren't flat ?

India went to Australia in 2014 and even the Aussie bowlers toiled because of how dead the pitches were. Pakistan's notoriously brittle batting toured Australia last year and scored totals of 450 and 443.

I'm not having a go at the Australian team or their fans for scoring so many runs at home. But if we want more even contests between bat and ball in Tests, a better spectacle for viewers and less home domination - these dead drop-in pitches don't help. Hence why groundsmen for the Test League, an ICC event, should be contracted to the ICC.
 
It has more to do with English bowlers, they don't have pace, last year SA beat AUS in those wickets by 2-1, Rabada was all over AUS in those tests. I cannot imagine SA would be 3-0 down in these conditions...Other than SA nobody has bowlers to play in these conditions.
 
The way the English players have been talking recently, people not following the series might actually think that they are the ones in the lead. I would rather concentrate on winning matches than complaining about the pitch just after day 1 of the Test. If England manage to lose the game in 4 days, it will for sure be entertaining for the Aussies. You play on what you get and you try to excel on the surfaces you play on. You don't come and cry in the media that the pitch was boring. The only thing which has been boring is the English attitude and performances on the field.
 
Odd comments from Anderson but to be fair he is having a very good series, 15 wickets now and at a healthy average by “touring Australia” standards.
 
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[MENTION=97]pakistani pride[/MENTION] - See ? Even the Aussies couldn't get anything out of this lifeless Melbourne pitch.

These Tests where batsmen can make merry and bowlers are easily picked off with zero support from conditions are exactly what's hurting the game.
 
Australia captain Steve Smith criticised the Melbourne pitch despite hitting a century to secure a draw in the fourth Ashes Test against England.

Only two wickets fell on the final day and 24 in the match on a lifeless surface at the MCG.

"It was probably the flattest wicket I have played on," said Smith. "If we played for the next two days it wouldn't change."

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said the pitch was "absolute garbage".

The draw - only the second in the past 20 Tests at the MCG - preserved Australia's 3-0 lead in the series and ensured England cannot suffer a third whitewash in four Ashes tours.

"It was very hard to get guys out," Smith said. "It was so slow. The pitch needs to have something in it - more pace or to break up so it spins."

Steve Smith has batted for more than 31 hours in the series
The total attendance for the Boxing Day Test, one of the showpiece events in the cricket calendar, was 262,616.

"This is the one Test match I always look forward to," said Vaughan, who played 82 Tests for England and led them to Ashes glory in 2005.

"It is a real sad spectacle that we have had five days of turgid cricket.

"There has been some good stuff but you can't be playing Test match cricket on this kind of surface. It doesn't do anything for selling Test match cricket."

England captain Joe Root said: "There was no pace, no spin - and if we played for four more days it would be exactly the same."

Chief executive Stuart Fox said Melbourne Cricket Club will "take on board feedback" from players and umpires and review the quality of the drop-in pitch.

"While this Test pitch did produce a good contest, it has not contained the pace and bounce that we expected," he said.

Smith's third century of the five-match series took his tally for the series to 604 runs at an average of 151.

The final Test in Sydney starts on 4 January (23:30 GMT on 3 January).

"I am in a nice place mentally and I am comfortable with my game," said Smith.

"I am enjoying batting and love my batting. Hopefully I can get another big one at my home ground in Sydney in a week's time."

http://www.bbc.com/sport/cricket/42521364
 
Flat pitches like these are what are killing test cricket. No wants to see batsmen dominate for 5 days. What we want to see is a batsmen have to work for his runs and a bowler always be in the game.
 
Flat pitches like these are what are killing test cricket. No wants to see batsmen dominate for 5 days. What we want to see is a batsmen have to work for his runs and a bowler always be in the game.

The pitch has been heavily criticised in Australian media and efforts/planning is being done to try and improve MCG drop-ins in future.

Coincidentally the current WACA groundsman is taking over at the MCG from next year (arranged before the current test) so there will definitely be changes.

One interesting theory is that the drop-ins being used are now 10-15 years old & may have lost their "life". Standard permanent pitches take 5 years or so to settle down & then usually last for 2 decades at least before needing renewal. They think perhaps these drop in squares will have to be changed more regularly for a new patch, perhaps every 10 years.
 
That was a horrible pitch.

I don't know why ICC or cricket boards are fascinated by flat/dead pitches. Their main revenue comes from TV rights and people watching on TV want to see balanced pitches where both parties have equal level of playing field.

They are killing the art of pace bowling - no kid will want to be a pacer after watching countless drubbings the pacers get.
 
Waiting for ICC to criticise and penalised MCG like they seemed to do with Indian pitches.

ICC is useless organisation and always lacks credibility.
 
The pitch has been heavily criticised in Australian media and efforts/planning is being done to try and improve MCG drop-ins in future.

Coincidentally the current WACA groundsman is taking over at the MCG from next year (arranged before the current test) so there will definitely be changes.

One interesting theory is that the drop-ins being used are now 10-15 years old & may have lost their "life". Standard permanent pitches take 5 years or so to settle down & then usually last for 2 decades at least before needing renewal. They think perhaps these drop in squares will have to be changed more regularly for a new patch, perhaps every 10 years.


It should be criticised. Something needs to be done by the ICC to prevent pitches like this.
 
It should be criticised. Something needs to be done by the ICC to prevent pitches like this.

I would have no problem if the MCG was warned by the ICC on this occasion for producing a poor pitch so I completely agree. Slips catches weren't even carrying AT ALL on day 2 & there wasn't even turn to make up for the low, slow nature.
 
There weren’t many dismissals in this game where the ball did anything. In fact I can’t think of any at all. Even in Brisbane which was a very flat pitch the new cherry swung for 6 overs or so. In Melbourne, seemingly every wicket was due to batsman error.
 
And what is stopping players from your country scoring so many hundreds? Are you telling me they are even incompetent to score runs on flat pattas?

haven't you been following our cricket ? they have been scoring 100s and 200s just like Kohli the King of Flat Decks :amir
 
If this pitch was in Pakistan/UAE, we would have been laughing stocks of the world.
 
There needs to be a strict law by ICC on pitches like these, ban that venue for a year or so.
 
Flat pitches like these are what are killing test cricket. No wants to see batsmen dominate for 5 days. What we want to see is a batsmen have to work for his runs and a bowler always be in the game.

Cricket post 2012 has been consistently played on surfaces which provide enough support to bowlers.

If dull pitches had to kill cricket, then it would have been dead in 1970s when there were many matches which used to have nothing for batsmen or bowler, maybe in 1960s when bowlers struggled to do anything throughou the decade.
 
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