Melbourne, Dec 28 (NationPress) Australia's acting captain Steve Smith shared his insights on the MCG pitch after the Boxing Day Test concluded within just two days, with England claiming victory by four wickets. He remarked that had the 10mm grass been 2mm shorter, it could have influenced the outcome of the match.

The playing surface at the Melbourne Cricket Ground faced scrutiny following the swift conclusion of the Boxing Day Ashes Test between Australia and England, which saw a total of 36 wickets fall across 142 overs. This match lasted for a mere 952 balls, just five more than the series opener in Perth.

“It clearly provided a lot of assistance, with 36 wickets falling in two days. Had the grass been either 2mm shorter or slightly less thick with the 10mm, it might have been fine, but I’m not a groundsman, so it’s tough to assess. It did seem to offer more than I anticipated. The groundsman is constantly learning, yet he has delivered some commendable pitches over the last two years,” Smith remarked to SEN Cricket.

The MCG has been criticized in the past for generating flat pitches that favored batting, especially noted during the 2017 Ashes Test, when only 24 wickets fell over five days. This surface faced significant backlash, leading match referee Ranjan Madugalle to issue a “poor” rating in his formal evaluation.

“When I first started, we didn’t see many pitches like this; it used to be a batting paradise at the MCG, but that has evolved over the past four or five years. It has shifted towards a more balanced cricket wicket where bat and ball are competing. The game has changed in terms of the aggression displayed by batters… if you witnessed Harry Brook batting like that a decade ago, you’d question, ‘What’s going on?!’

“Brook was the top run scorer for England, and even Travis Head for us in the second innings found it necessary to approach the wicket more aggressively,” he added.

Fast bowler Mitchell Starc supported Smith’s observations, stating, ‘Nobody desires to witness two-day Test matches.’

“I suppose you noticed it started to play a bit truer towards the end of yesterday. Would a couple of mm less have altered the game significantly? Or was it a matter of strategy? Or perhaps just two exceptional bowling attacks?”

“It’s certainly not ideal to have two-day Test matches, which suggests they might have let the grass on the pitch grow a bit too high. Last week in Adelaide, we saw a relatively flat surface that didn’t yield much unless the ball was hard and new.

“Batters had the advantage last week, while bowlers seemed to have it a bit too much this week. I noticed last year it was at 6 or 7mm, and arguably, if it were 8mm, it would likely present a decent batting surface. It's wise not to dwell on it too much and to move on quickly,” Starc concluded.