Australia prepared a track that reduced the Boxing Day Test to a farce. It was nigh on unplayable and made things a lottery at the MCG. We have forever argued that such tracks make the lesser team a force and undermine the qualities that the better team has. Australia had taken an unassailable lead in the series and England were literally down and out. A good wicket, and Australia could have rubbed it in. The MCG lottery made sure Bazball was given a lifeline and allowed to save face.
This was not Test cricket. A match that ended inside two days can be anything but real Test cricket. Some might call it intense while others will say it was edge-of-the-seat action. For me, it was painful to see the Boxing Day Test end in two days. And England, from nowhere, got a lifeline, thanks to the MCG curator.
Australia were bowled out for 132 in their second innings and it meant England needed 175 to win. It was tailor-made for Bazball. Come and start hitting from ball one and pray it works right. The perfect stage for a gamble. If you lose going for shots its fine, for you have already lost the series. And then there is the pitch to blame. If you manage to turn things around and go ahead and win it, you have won a huge mental battle and Bazball, down and out, has been resurrected somewhat.
India paid a heavy price for preparing lottery wickets against New Zealand and South Africa. Against New Zealand, spinners like Ajaz Patel and Mitch Santner ran through India’s batting and looked better than Ravichandran Ashwin and Ravindra Jadeja. Against South Africa at Eden Gardens, Simon Harmer ripped through India and yet again pushed the point home.
Now it was Australia’s turn. The idea behind these wickets is always to grind the opposition down. Destroy them and force them into submission. What teams don’t realise is that by preparing such wickets, you are actually undermining your own ability. Mitch Starc has been bowling like a dream in this series. He doesn’t need an MCG track to take the English down. In fact, among all the Australian bowlers, except Jhye Richardson, he picked the least wickets at the G! Scott Boland and Michael Neser picked more wickets than Starc and it is yet another reminder what tracks like these can do.
Administrators and teams need to take a pause and introspect. At a time when the game is under challenge from other commercially viable formats, read T20 cricket, do we really need to play on tracks like these? Do we really need to undermine the format that has made the sport what it is? Who does this help and why? Finally what does this mean for Brendon McCullum and Bazball?
From the perspective of the World Test Championship (WTC), it helps make things interesting. England managed to pull one back and Australia will rue a lost opportunity. For the English batters who have struggled all series, it could well have given them the necessary confidence to step up at the SCG and end the series on a high. The momentum has shifted and Australia themselves are the ones to blame. The fans were cheated and the match was a pain.
P.S. If it had happened in India, the self-righteous Fleet Street probably would have called for banning the centre.
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