Australia’s Scott Boland (centre) appeals for a profitable LBW name towards England batsman Zak Crawley (left) on the second day of the fourth Ashes cricket Take a look at match between Australia and England on the Melbourne Cricket Floor (MCG) in Melbourne on December 27, 2025. — AFP
The Melbourne Cricket Floor’s seam-friendly pitch for the fourth Ashes Take a look at was rated “unsatisfactory” on Monday by the Worldwide Cricket Council after it ended inside two days.
Below the world governing physique’s four-tier score system “unsatisfactory” is the second lowest, characterising a pitch “favouring the bowlers too much”.
It broke the venue’s streak of “very good” scores for the previous three Boxing Day Checks and earned it one demerit level.
“The MCG pitch was too much in favour of the bowlers,” mentioned match referee Jeff Crowe.
“With 20 wickets falling on the first day, 16 on the second day and no batter even reaching a half-century, the pitch was ‘unsatisfactory’ as per the guidelines and the venue gets one demerit point.”
England beat Australia by 4 wickets within the ultimate session of day two, with no batsman scoring greater than 46 throughout the 4 innings.
The primary Take a look at in Perth additionally resulted in two days, however that pitch was rated “very good” by the ICC.
MCG curator Matt Web page and his group left 10 millimetres (0.4 inches) of grass on the wicket, offering the seamers with motion and bounce and making batting treacherous.
The carnage left Cricket Australia dealing with Aus$10 million (US$6.7 million) in income shortfall, with tickets for day three and 4 needing to be refunded.
“We were disappointed for the fans holding tickets for days three and four, and also the millions of fans excited to watch the action in Australia and around the world, that the pitch did not provide the MCG’s customary balance between bat and ball,” mentioned Cricket Australia’s chief of cricket James Allsopp.
“We appreciate the outstanding work the MCG staff have done over recent years producing excellent Test match pitches,” he added.
Earlier than the ICC resolution was handed down, Australia coach Andrew McDonald got here to the defence of Web page and warned towards authorities meddling in pitch preparation.
McDonald mentioned Web page had performed an “outstanding” job through the years and the batsmen also needs to shoulder among the blame for not scoring sufficient runs.
“The perspective that I always use is we have bad Test matches as well — this Test we weren’t at our best and sometimes these things can happen.
“We assist him in what he’s performed and are actually happy with the evolution of the MCG.
“He’s found a nice balance for a long period of time.”
Cricket Australia are set to undertake their very own end-of-season overview of the administration of Take a look at wickets.
Chief government Todd Greenberg has steered a extra interventionist strategy is perhaps wanted, with shorter Checks “bad for business”.
However McDonald mentioned he was not in favour of any interference, with curators in Australia historically unbiased when making ready pitches, each from captains and Cricket Australia.
“I don’t want to get to a situation […] where we are asking for specific surfaces and tailor-made,” McDonald mentioned.
“I don’t think Australia will ever go there, and I don’t think they’ve ever been there, to my knowledge.”
Australia led the sequence 3-1 with the fifth and ultimate Take a look at in Sydney beginning Sunday.
