Two of the four Ashes Tests have ended inside two days, but received different pitch ratings from the ICC. Why is this the case?
Why was Perth 'very good' but Melbourne 'unsatisfactory'?
The series opener in Perth last month ended in 847 balls after 19 wickets fell on day one, and Australia led by Travis Head completed a whirlwind chase of 205 on day two.
In the recently-concluded fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, 20 wickets fell on the opening day, and England earned their first win in Australia since 2011, chasing down 175 on day two. It lasted just five balls longer than the Perth Test.
While both matches followed similar patterns, the former was given a pitch rating of "very good" by the ICC, and the latter was deemed "unsatisfactory". "Very good" is the highest possible rating in the ICC's four-tier system for evaluating pitches and outfields, followed by "good", "unsatisfactory" and "unfit", in that order.
According to the ICC guide, "very good" is given to a pitch that has "good carry, limited seam movement, and consistent bounce early in the match, allowing for a balanced contest between batters and bowlers".
An "unsatisfactory" pitch is one that "does not allow an even contest between bat and ball… by favouring the bowlers too much, with too many wicket-taking opportunities for either seam or spin".
Read more: No fifties, five ducks: Batters struggle on MCG pitch to produce 93-year first in Australia
In Perth, despite a flurry of wickets on day one, the surface did appear considerably flatter and more even on day two, reflecting a wicket that provided ample opportunity for bowlers and batters to have an impact on the game. Head was also largely untroubled by the pitch en route to a century in Australia's run chase, which came at over seven runs an over.
Australia batter Usman Khawaja was the only prominent voice to raise any serious issue with the Perth wicket, calling it a "piece of sh*t".
Meanwhile, the MCG saw wickets tumble throughout the two days, with no visible easing up even on the second day. The average was 15.88 runs per wicket for Boxing Day, compared to 21.03 at Perth. The control percentage (proportion of deliveries for which batters were considered in control of their shot) across both teams at Perth was 75.44, and 69.61 at the MCG. The latter figure is the fourth-lowest for any WTC Test match.
Cricket data provider CricViz also gave the MCG wicket a PitchViz rating of 8.9 out of 10 (for difficulty), the highest for any Test match in Australia in the ball-tracking era, i.e. since 2006. ICC match referee Martin Crowe added that "The MCG pitch was too much in favour of the bowlers."
The Boxing Day surface also came in for heavy criticism from commentators across the two days. England captain Ben Stokes said "there would be hell" if this wicket was "somewhere else in the world".
Melbourne curator Matt Page left 10mm of grass on a drop-in surface. Extra grass often aids movement off the seam for fast bowlers, and acts as a deterrent of sorts, to prevent wickets from becoming too flat too quickly in warmer climates.
On day one, Australia great Glenn McGrath questioned why 10mm of grass was necessary when a 7mm cover at this venue had produced a superb five-day Test against India last year. Page explained after the game that with cooler weather around in 2024, 7mm was sufficient to prevent the kind of flattening out that led to the pitch earning a "poor" rating in the 2017 Boxing Day Test (for being too tilted in favour of the batters).
"We've gone in with 10mm [here]. We knew we were going to get a lot of hot weather at the back end of the game [this year]," Page said. He admitted that "we've gone too far with this one and obviously we're very, very disappointed that it's only gone two days."
Interestingly, Perth curator Isaac McDonald left 9mm of grass on the first Test surface, but the wicket there did not react the same way.
During the match, Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg said that short Tests were "bad for business". Initial estimates from local media put CA's losses due to foregone revenue at AUD 5 million for the Perth Test, a figure ballooning to AUD 10 million for the MCG Test, given the special occasion of a Boxing Day Ashes Test, and a larger crowd capacity in Melbourne.
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