ICC to punish Australian cricket after Melbourne Test fiasco

Soumyajit Dutta

The Melbourne Cricket Ground [Source: @MCG/X]The Melbourne Cricket Ground [Source: @MCG/X]

The Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch has been ducking blows from the left, right, and centre after the cricketing world is furious with the deck they presented for the Boxing Day Test in The Ashes. The Australia vs England fourth Test saw the game end within just two days as a record 20 wickets fell on the first day.

As per the latest reports, the MCG pitch was far below the ‘satisfactory’ level with more ‘dirty’ grass that favoured the seamers, and sources also revealed that it will cost Cricket Australia an estimated USD 16 million loss on the ticket sales on the remaining three days of the Test.

Cricket Australia lose $16 million in ticket sales after short MCG Test

Ahead of Day 2, CA CEO revealed that they were estimating a USD 3.3 million loss for the short Tests and evidently, they lost about $5 million due to the short Test in Perth.

The MCG has about 40,000 more seating capacity than Perth, and reporter Zane Bojack reported on Saturday that it amounts to a massive loss of over $15 million.

"Around $16 million in ticket sales I'm hearing…that's how much the next 2 days will cost Cricket Australia...plus very angry broadcasters," Bojack wrote.

The MCG pitch to be rated sub-par by ICC

In another development, leading cricket reporter Robert Craddock has tipped the ICC to rate the MCG pitch sub-par in his latest column.

“Match officials will give it a sub-par rating...Australia must ensure the dirty deck on which [England] triumphed is never seen again,” Craddock wrote.

The last time the MCG got a sub-par rating was back in 2017 and the ICC now has four options to choose from for the review - very good, satisfactory, unsatisfactory and unfit. If ICC rates MCG pitch below satisfactory, the venue will be bagging a demerit point which, if substantially added over the years might lead to a ban from hosting international matches.

As per Craddock, “the curators left 10mm of grass on the surface - 3mm more than last year - and the bowlers were given plenty to work with.”

Joining in with the pundits of the cricketing world, England great Kevin Pietersen labelled it an "utter shambles and complete disrespect to the greatest form of the game!"

Nevertheless, England’s win saves the visitors from the shame of an Ashes whitewash as the two teams meet again on January 4 at Sydney for the last and final game of the series.