Australian head coach Andrew McDonald has leapt to the defence of MCG curator Matt Page after the Boxing Day Ashes Test wrapped up in less than two days, acknowledging the craft of preparing wickets can be a “tricky balance.”
England only needed 32 hours to win the marquee fixture after 36 wickets fell across two days at the iconic Victorian venue, making it the third-shortest Ashes contest on Australian soil. Courtesy of the seam movement and extra bounce, no player from either team managed a half-century, which had not occurred in a Test match in Australia since 1932.
Watch The Ashes 2025/26 LIVE and ad-break free during play with FOX CRICKET on Kayo Sports | New to Kayo? Join now and get your first month for just $1.
More than 90,000 fans were expected to attend the sold-out third day in Melbourne, with Cricket Australia predicted to lose $11 million from the shortened contest.
Speaking to a media scrum outside the MCG on Sunday morning, Page confessed he was in a “state of shock” watching the carnage unfold during the Boxing Day Test, admitting he was “really disappointed” with the outcome.
McDonald pointed out that just as great cricketers can have bad Test matches, curators are not immune from making errors.
“A lot’s been spoken about the pitch,” he told reporters at the MCG on Monday morning.
Fallout from Boxing Day test continues | 02:43
“It’s always a tricky balance, a fine balance. He does an outstanding job.
“The perspective that I always use is that we have bad Test matches as well. We had a bad Test match, the first Test match last summer (against India in Perth). This Test we weren’t at our best, and sometimes these things can happen.”
The MCG has previously been guilty of producing flat, benign wickets that favoured batting, most notably during the 2017 Ashes Test where 24 wickets fell across five days. The lifeless pitch drew heavy criticism from players and administrators, with match referee Ranjan Madugalle handing down a ‘poor’ rating in his official report.
Page took over the role of head curator shortly after, helping overturn the MCG’s reputation as a batter’s paradise by ditching the concrete slab used under its drop-in decks and replacing several ageing wickets.
“We support him in what he’s done and are really proud of the evolution of the MCG,” McDonald continued.
“Hopefully people can have some context around where he’s been on the journey and support him for the next challenge that he faces.”
Aussie batters say they underperformed | 02:49
McDonald also predicted the two-day MCG Test would be an “outlier”, adamant that Page would get the balance right over the coming years.
“We do catastrophise one-off events, even with our team’s performance. We like to do that, and it creates stories,” he said.
“But at the end of the day, it’s really about supporting Matt Page and what he’s done and looking at that evolution from where (the pitch) was. That wicket was no good for anything or anyone (in 2017), and now we go over the top the other way.
“We don’t want to scare him off and get back to where we were. He’s found a nice balance for a long period of time. So let’s not catastrophise things too much.”
Earlier, Australian opener Travis Head confessed that he “felt for” Page and his team, acknowledging the fine margins in preparing an adequate Test wicket.
“It’s bloody tough,” he told reporters in Melbourne on Sunday.
“You leave one or two millimetres on with high-quality bowling and you find yourself short. You take two or three millimetres with high-quality batting and you’re (too far) the other way.
“Everyone wants to see wickets … (but) there needs to be a balance.”
The fifth and final Ashes Test between Australia and England gets underway at the SCG on January 4.
Discussion about this post