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The Melbourne Cricket Club is standing by embattled curator Matt Page after this year’s Boxing Day Test finished inside two days, leaving Cricket Australia with a $10 million revenue shortfall.
MCC chief executive Stuart Fox and Page faced the music on Sunday morning to explain why the expected day three crowd of 90,000 would have no cricket to watch due to a pitch that was heavily in favour of the bowlers.
Melbourne Cricket Club curator Matt Page.Credit: Wayne Taylor
The MCG’s reputation as the best Test pitch in the country has taken a battering after staging just the 27th two-day Test in the format’s 148-year history. A total of 36 wickets fell in 142 overs, and the game finished in the final session of the second day.
Fox held discussions with CA chief Todd Greenberg and chair Mike Baird during the game and will chat further after the truncated game cost $10 million in revenue as well as the exposure that comes with the spotlight on the sport’s marquee game of the year.
Fox, however, is maintaining his faith in Page to bounce back next year and produce a pitch in line with those of the previous three seasons when it received the top rating from the International Cricket Council.
“We brought Matt on eight years ago because he’s considered one of the best in the country, if not the best,” Fox said. “I still believe that and I always will.
An inquisition on what should have been day three of the Boxing Day Test.Credit: Wayne Taylor
“He’s done a great job. Him and his team work tirelessly to get this right. You can see he’s disappointed. He carries that responsibility. My job as a leader is to support people. When you believe in your people, you get behind them and support them. I know he’ll respond and the team will.”
ICC referee Jeff Crowe is yet to deliver his assessment of the pitch, but Page conceded his pitch had not allowed for an even contest between bat and ball but would not publicly share his personal rating.
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“That’s a good question, we’ve clearly favoured the bowlers in what we’ve done,” Page said. “How you look at that and where that sits on the scale, it’s not for me to decide. I’ll leave that up with Jeff Crowe.”
Page was as surprised as the cricket world after 20 wickets fell on Boxing Day.
“I was in a state of shock,” Page said. “I’ve never been involved in a Test match like it and hopefully never involved in a Test match like that again. It was a roller coaster ride for two days to see everything unfold.”
Page defended his team’s decision to leave 10 millimetres of grass on the pitch. He had shaved the pitch down to seven millimetres last year when Australia defeated India in the final session of day five, but the cooler and wetter weather leading into this game combined with heat on days three and four meant he needed a different approach.
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“We don’t get inconsistent bounce, we don’t get deterioration in our pitches and we’re trying to balance that contest between bat and ball throughout four or five days to provide that captivating Test for all,” Page said.
“For us, we left it longer because we knew we were going to get weather at the back end that we knew where we needed our grass at.
“You look back at it and go it’s favoured the bowlers too much days one and two. If that doesn’t happen we set ourselves up really good for days three and four.”
This Test was in contrast to eight years ago when Australia and England played out a dull draw in which bat dominated ball. It prompted crisis talks between the MCC and cricket authorities on the traits an ideal MCG pitch should have.
“If we don’t have seam movement at the MCG, we become very dull, very lifeless and very flat,” Page said. “That’s no good for the players, the spectators and no good for the game. For us, it’s about providing that seam movement. We’ve gone too far with this one and we’re very, very disappointed it’s only gone two days.”
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