Perth, Nov 20: WACA head curator Isaac McDonald on Wednesday said the unusual rain in Perth has impacted the pitch preparation for the first Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy and though he doesn’t expect the surface to develop “snake cracks”, there will still be plenty of bounce and carry.
The surface at the Optus Stadium or at the nearby WACA ground is known for its pace and bounce and when the cracks open up in dry conditions, it provides more assistance to the seamers besides bringing the spinners into play.The city has witnessed rain over the past few days and the pitch was covered for the whole day on Tuesday, cutting down preparation time for the curator.“Yeah, it’s definitely not traditional Perth Test prep. Yesterday we pretty much lost the whole day of prep with it being under cover. So we kind of saw the forecast early on and we started prep a little bit earlier than we normally would.
“So we’re sitting quite comfortable still. It’d be nice if the sun would pop out and do its job but as of this morning we’re in a good spot, we’re really comfortable as a curating team,” McDonald told media ahead of the series opener beginning on Friday.
The pitch is likely to retain moisture come match day, effectively ruling out the possibility of major deterioration over the course of five days.“I don’t think the weather is going to make this pitch fall apart. There’ll be some deterioration, grass will stand up during the game and offer that variable bounce but in terms of big snake WACA cracks, unfortunately I don’t think the weather is going to get us there,” said the head curator.
The forecast is clear for Friday as well as the remaining four days but the temperatures are unlikely to increase drastically. McDonald wants the sun to emerge from the clouds at the earliest so that the surface can behave close to its traditional nature.
“I mean everyone talks about the traditional baking of the top. We can kind of manufacture that with more rolling and less water on top if we have to. We’re testing the wicket hour by hour so it’s quite conditions based at the moment.“So at the moment we’re leaning towards rolling it a bit more on top to get that firmness and that happy medium between bat and ball. But yeah, fingers crossed the sun pops out,” he said.
Pakistan recently bundled out Australia for 140 in an ODI at the Optus Stadium here. (PTI)
