By the time my readers read this piece, one session of Day 2 of the fourth Ashes Test has been completed at the MCG. Who knows how many more wickets would fall? Twenty wickets on Boxing Day and yet again it will be a three-day Test match. Has batsmanship really touched a new low and is it now certain that modern batters can’t play the moving ball? Most innings over 20 that we have seen are cameos and not the conventional Test match innings that had once defined batting in the game’s purest format.
Yes, there was grass on the MCG pitch. The ball did move. But then, was the surface unplayable? Did the 95,000 spectators get their money’s worth? What is a good day of Test cricket I’d like to ask? Many will say what an intense day it was and 20 wickets fell. But does that make it a good day of Test cricket? Twenty wickets! Just like 400-4 isn’t the best day, 20 wickets can’t be a good day either.
Cricket is a contest between bat and ball. Just like it is unfair when the bat totally takes over and a 250-plus T20 run fest isn’t the best advert, similarly 20 wickets in a day makes it a rather one-sided contest. The batter is never in and the temptation always is to play shots and get some runs, for a wicket-taking ball is always round the corner.
Now comes the pitch. Had it been the subcontinent, many would be up in arms by now. The curator’s head would be on the line and the venue would be castigated on social media. Eden Gardens, a month earlier, was taken apart if we all remember. What about the hallowed ‘G’? Was it a bad pitch or is grass always the yardstick for good? If the ball spun, it would be a bad wicket. But if it seams and swings, it is the batter who is at fault for the wicket was a gem!
Who has decided this? Who has said that the MCG wicket was a good one and Eden Gardens a bad one? How do we allow such hypocrisy to pass? And why is it that the subcontinent is always at the receiving end? If the MCG track can pass off as a good surface, then it is surely a case of double standard.
Coming to England, they go from bad to worse. How will the public back home in the UK take this is the question. Will Baz McCullum be asked to leave and will Ben Stokes be asked to step down? Will players like Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope give way to younger talent? Is there a way back for England in this Test match?
We can keep asking questions, but there are very few answers in the horizon. The Test match is already half over in a day and that’s the reality we need to confront. And just because it is the MCG, it can’t evade scrutiny. Is this fair on the crowds? Also, is this the best advertisement for Test cricket?
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