Boxing Day Test 2017

[Gethelred]

While that sounds like a good thing, I wonder.

Will it just become another political football for the ICC to threaten the minnows with? They're hardly going to risk BCCI money by banning a bigger stadium over there, and they probably won't here, either. The second issue is, the last pitch to have been rated 'poor' was the pitch in Pune, where we beat India at home within three days. While the pitch in Melbourne was well below average, it wasn't as bad as Perth 2013, or Cardiff 2008. I REALLY can't see this being used against the big Test teams, just against the Sri Lankas, the WIndies of the world.

Secondly, the thing that truly troubles me about this is this quote, taken from the article:

According to the criteria employed by ICC match referees as part of their mandatory end-of-match reports, any pitch that offers excessive seam movement, extravagant assistance to spin bowlers or overt unevenness in bounce during any stage of a match can be rated as ‘poor’.

Given a match in which the bowlers have a little more to play with than the batsman is captivating, isn't this something to be rather concerned about? Especially given that Hobart, a venue people around here seem to laud as having a terrific wicket, could be considered as having 'excessive seam movement'.

 

[flamethrower]

What a joke of a ruling by the ICC - that was not a poor pitch. It wasn't the best but it was far from the worst pitch in international cricket.

Examples of poor pitches....

- Turning sideways from the 1st over.
- Balls bouncing half way down the pitch and running along the ground.
- Balls landing on middle stump, hitting a crack and ending up at 3rd slip.
- Pitches that are so green that it impossible to tell them from the surrounding infield.

The problem with the MCG test is that neither team had genuine quick (150mph plus) or top line wrist spin bowlers. They can get wickets anywhere. Two teams full of military medium bowlers wil always struggle to get top line batsmen out. Besides, the "flat track where getting out is near impossible" still saw the "great Aussie tail" lose 5 for 13.

 

[ROOTA#6]

Smith takes his catches and we don't hear so much about the pitch

 

[BobbyMorri]

haha, Victorians. Some of you are a little touchy

England still needed to bat once more before you could even consider a result. And the pitch played the same on day 1 as in day 5. That is, there was no movement, pace or anything for the bowler. That is the big issue.

I say good on the ICC for telling the MCC to pick up its game. It was a terrible test and pitch. England would have been rightly furious if that was served up and the ashes were 2-0. These pitch ratings have been around a while IIRC. That includes Hobart test matches. The MCG is the first venue to get a poor rating in Australia. It was that bad.

 

[beta_condition]

haha, Victorians. Some of you are a little touchy

The * are you talking about 99% of the people have said the pitch was s**t.

 

[danielnajdek]

A lot of Indian pitches are gonna be in trouble.

 

[BobbyMorri]

The **** are you talking about 99% of the people have said the pitch was s**t.

how about u do some reading instead of blowing your load off early. The important part(and people I am referring to) are the 2 posts right above mine.

 

[beta_condition]

how about u do some reading instead of blowing your load off early. The important part(and people I am referring to) are the 2 posts right above mine.

All i'm seeing is another dickhead starting this state vs state bullshit, same childish crap over and over and over.

 

[BobbyMorri]

All i'm seeing is another dickhead starting this state vs state bullshit, same childish crap over and over and over.

a little touchy are you.

 

[beta_condition]

a little touchy are you.

No i've just had enough s**t from morons which love to pedal their state bullshit like broken records.

 

[DaRick]

MCG on notice after ICC rates pitch 'poor'

http://www.cricket.com.au/news/mcg-...t-stripped-boxing-day-fine-warning/2018-01-02

It was a lousy pitch but surely not markedly worse than last year's concrete strip?

I would also rate the airport runway we were treated to at the WACA in 2015/16 as worse than this one - 550+ playing 600+.

 

[Drugs Are Bad Mackay?]

It was a lousy pitch but surely not markedly worse than last year's concrete strip?

I would also rate the airport runway we were treated to at the WACA in 2015/16 as worse than this one - 550+ playing 600+.

Yeah poor seems a major over-reaction.

The next level down - unfit - is surely for tests that get abandoned? It was a long way from that quality.

Sure it was too flat but it wasn't a minefield. And it's not like it was the first draw in history.

 

[BobbyMorri]

Its not the first pitch to be too flat which was rated poor.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/...1st-investec-test-india-tour-of-england-2014/

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/...d-test-south-africa-tour-of-west-indies-2010/

good article on past poor wickets. This is not a new system. stuff ups were made and hopefully it wont be made again. It was a terrible test

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/18788951/eight-deadly-pitches

 

[Gethelred]

Its not the first pitch to be too flat which was rated poor.

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/...1st-investec-test-india-tour-of-england-2014/

http://www.espncricinfo.com/series/...d-test-south-africa-tour-of-west-indies-2010/

good article on past poor wickets. This is not a new system. stuff ups were made and hopefully it wont be made again. It was a terrible test

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/18788951/eight-deadly-pitches

Surprised Cardiff 2013 wasn't rated 'poor' by the match officials.

Both England and Australia declared in the first dig, Australia in the second, and the last two partnerships of the match by England featured the no. 9-10 and then the 10-11 keeping out some pretty decent bowling, on a deck too placid to get anything unusual. The pitch was near identical to the Melbourne wicket.

But then, England were hardly going to complain, as they took momentum from the draw and turned it into a series win.