New Delhi: Unseasonal rains has scuppered up Perth pitch preparations for the opening Test of the Australia vs India Border-Gavaskar series but contingency plans has ensured that its will still have plenty of bounce and carry, said WACA head curator.
The Optus Stadium track offers a lot of pace and bounce and when it becomes dry, cracks open up that provides assistance to spinners as well.
It has rained over the last few days in Perth, forcing the ground to be covered for the entire day on Tuesday that reduced preparation time before the start of the match on Friday.
“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 said on Wedensday.
With forecast predicting clear skies for the entire duration of the five-day contest, temperatures are unlikely to increase drastically and the pitch is likely to retain moisture.
‘Snake cracks might not appear’
It rules out major deterioration of the surface over the course of five days but McDonald said he oped the sun emerged soon to ensure that the track behaves true to its traditional nature.
“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,” McDonald said.
“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 added.
The Optus Stadium track in Perth, where the opening Test of the India vs Australia series will be played, offers a lot of pace and bounce and when it becomes dry, cracks open up that provides assistance to spinners as well. Cricket Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
