New Delhi:
The Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch is once again the scanner two years after it was sanctioned by the ICC. In the ongoing Sheffield Shield encounter between Victoria and Western Australia, some deliveries reared up awkwardly and hit the Western Australia batsmen. This forced the on-field umpires to have a lengthy discussion with Shaun Marsh and Peter Handscomb and the match was suspended indefinitely. According to a report in Cricket Australia, Matt Page, the head curator at the MCG was seen rolling the wicket and the umpires are scheduled to have an inspection in the near future.
The sequence began when Peter Siddle was bowling to Western Australia skipper Marsh. Siddle bowled a short ball on leg stump and it climbed up awkwardly to hit Marsh on the side of the helmet. Siddle continued to get deliveries rear up from the wicket and Marcus Stoinis was the next to feel the brunt. Another short ball climbed up from the good length area and struck Stoinis on the gloves. The batsman dropped his bat and went to square leg as he tried to recover. However, things became even worse for Stoinis as Andrew Fekete got a ball to jag back in sharply from a length to hit the batsman on the rib cage area.
After several deliveries hit the Western Australia batsmen, the umpires came together and made the decision. This development does not come as good news for the Melbourne Cricket Ground that is scheduled to hold the Boxing Day Test against New Zealand on December 26. In the 2017/18 Ashes contest against England, the MCG pitch was criticised for being lifeless and boring as the match was drawn.
The ICC gave the Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch a poor rating for the Ashes test, giving Cricket Australia two weeks to respond to the criticism before determining a sanction. Players and commentators criticised the lifeless drop-in pitch used for the Boxing Day test between Australia and England in Melbourne, and International Cricket Council match referee Ranjan Madugalle followed up in his official report to the sport's governing body when he gave it a poor rating. It was the first Australian test venue to be rated with such a low rating. Under existing rules, the ICC sanction can range from an official warning to a fine.
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But under regulations set to come into effect on Thursday, pitches officially rated as poor or unfit will be given demerit points which could ultimately lead to suspensions. Under the new pitch monitoring system three demerit points would have been awarded to the MCG. According to the new regulations, reaching five across a rolling five-year period will result in a 12-month ban on hosting any international cricket.
