Cricket Australia (CA) is confident that the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) will deliver a competitive pitch for the Boxing Day Test between Australia and New Zealand on December 26.

Well, the preparations began over the weekend on the MCG pitch, especially after the turf behaved too dangerously during a Sheffield Shield match earlier this month. That First-Class match had to be called off at the MCG after many deliveries bounced awkwardly, as good-length balls rose sharply and unpredictably and hit the batsmen.

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However, this time, Kevin Roberts, the CA chief executive, pleased with the progress being made on the criticized MCG pitch and backed the curator Matt Page to produce a good pitch for the second Test of the ongoing series, expecting a grassy wicket for the Boxing Day Test against the Black Caps.

As per AAP, Roberts said on Wednesday (December 18): “We're really keen to ensure that the MCC doesn't overreact to the situation in the last Shield game. The great news was that no players were injured in that situation and we learned a lot from it.”

He continued, “They're not overreacting and Matt Page is a master of his craft. We're looking forward to him expressing that with his team in the Boxing Day pitch. We're really confident that there won't be an overreaction and that we'll see a better balance between bat and ball at the MCG.

The condition of pitches at the MCG has been on a significant increase over the last period of time since Matt and the team took the concrete base out from underneath the pitches and replaced it with sand.”

Roberts signed off by saying, “The feedback from the curators is that it feels different to roll, the feedback from the players is that it feels different and even sounds different to play on. It sounds like a proper turf wicket now, rather than something that's more like a concrete deck, so we're really optimistic about Boxing Day.”

(With AAP Inputs)