Last year’s Test surface was very good after life has been injected into the drop-in wickets
There wasn’t a single outright result in a first-class match played at the ground in the 2017-18 season and it led to an overhaul of the drop-in pitch preparation under Matt Page, who took over as head curator after the Ashes debacle.
“We’ve been on a massive journey the last three years,” Page said on Wednesday. “For us, it’s all about improving and getting better at what we do.
“We’ve changed our techniques. We’ve left a lot more grass on the pitches. We’ve been gradually improving. It’s probably shown in the results we’ve produced. We’re pretty happy with where we’re at.
“If we can produce something like we did last year we’d be very happy with that. A bit of seam movement upfront for the quick guys. A little bit there for the batters as the game goes on and a little bit of spin towards the end.”
“The last few years have been different to what it was before that,” Boland said during that match. “There’s a bit more grass on it now, much better carry, especially for day two. Sometimes you rock up here and it looks like a one-day wicket.
“I think Pagey and the ground staff are doing a great job to bring a bit of life back to the ‘G and get some results because we had a few years there where we just played draw after draw out here. It’s nice to rock up to the ground and have the opportunity to take 20 wickets.”
“I think it was a really good surface,” Maddinson said. “It felt like it was a contest throughout the entire day. Even when the ball was old, and you’d think you were in on 60 or 70, it still felt like every ball was a challenge. The bowlers were always in it, especially the seamers throughout the day, and Nathan Lyon’s bounce was really hard to score off.”
Even Lyon, with more knowledge than most on the art of producing a great pitch, was impressed by what he saw having taken three wickets in the first innings and none in the second.
“I actually thought the MCG wicket was pretty good,” Lyon said. “There was a lot more contest between bat and ball. It offered some spin early but if you’re good enough the bowlers got the ball to seam around a little bit. I think it was a pretty good template for the Test match, hopefully.”
Page is hoping to roll out something similar for Boxing Day, with the dull, dour drop-in of 2017 a distant memory.
Alex Malcolm is an Associate Editor at ESPNcricinfo