Cricket Australia (CA) chief Todd Greenberg stated on Saturday that short Tests were detrimental to the game’s business, as some of the biggest names in the sport criticised the state of the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) pitch.
Twenty wickets tumbled on day one of the fourth Test between Australia and England on Friday, with the hosts dismissed for 152 and the tourists just 110.
Six more fell on the second morning with Australia 98-6 at lunch, meaning 26 wickets had fallen in 98 overs and four sessions.
It was the most wickets to fall on the first day of an Ashes Test since 1909, and came on the back of 19 wickets being taken on day one of the series opener in Perth.
The Perth Test ended in two days, costing Cricket Australia (CA) millions of dollars in lost revenue, with Melbourne also shaping as a major dent to the governing body’s finances.
“I didn’t sleep well last night, put it that way,” Greenberg said on SEN radio after more than 94,000 packed into the MCG for Friday’s first day.
“It was an amazing day of Test cricket, so for that record number of people who were here, boy, they’ve had an experience.
“But our challenge is to make sure we can continue those experiences day after day. That’s the challenge for all of us.”
The Melbourne pitch was prepared with 10 millimetres of grass on the wicket, making it heavily favourable for the bowlers with plenty of movement and bounce under overcast skies.
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Greenberg said a trend towards shorter Test matches was not in Cricket Australia’s interest.
“A simple phrase I’d use is short Tests are bad for business. I can’t be much more blunt than that,” he said. “So I would like to see a slightly broader balance between the bat and the ball.”
A host of former greats have been critical of the Melbourne pitch, with former England captain Michael Vaughan on Saturday calling it “a joke”.
“This is selling the game short,” he added, while another ex-England skipper, Alastair Cook, branded it “an unfair contest”.
Curators in Australia are traditionally independent when it comes to preparing pitches, both from captains and Cricket Australia.
Todd Greenberg suggested a more interventionist approach might be needed.
“It’s hard not to get more involved when you see the impact on the sport, especially commercially, he said.
“I’m not suggesting I’ll go around talking to ground staff, but we do have to have a careful eye on what our expectations are over the course of a summer.”
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