Perth has witnessed rain over the past few days, and the pitch was covered for the whole day on Tuesday (November 19, 2024), cutting down preparation time for the curator. File
| Photo Credit: V.V. Krishnan

WACA head curator Isaac McDonald said on Wednesday (November 20, 2024) that the unusual rain in Perth has impacted the pitch preparation for the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy, and though he doesn’t expect the surface to develop “snake cracks”, there will still be plenty of bounce and carry.

The surface at the Optus Stadium or at the nearby WACA ground is known for its pace and bounce, and when the cracks open up in dry conditions, it provides more assistance to the seamers besides bringing the spinners into play.

Some of those cracks often take the shape of a snake and are therefore termed “snake cracks”.

The city has witnessed rain over the past few days, and the pitch was covered for the whole day on Tuesday (November 19, 2024), cutting down preparation time for the curator.

“Yeah, it’s definitely not traditional Perth Test prep. Yesterday we pretty much lost the whole day of prep with it being under cover. So we kind of saw the forecast early on, and we started preparing a little bit earlier than we normally would. So we’re sitting quite comfortably still. It’d be nice if the sun would pop out and do its job, but as of this morning we’re in a good spot; we’re really comfortable as a curating team,” McDonald told media ahead of the series opener beginning on Friday (November 22, 2024),” he said.

The pitch is likely to retain moisture come match day, effectively ruling out the possibility of major deterioration over the course of five days.

“I don’t think the weather is going to make this pitch fall apart. There’ll be some deterioration; grass will stand up during the game and offer that variable bounce, but in terms of big snake WACA cracks, unfortunately, I don’t think the weather is going to get us there,” said the head curator.

The forecast is clear for Friday (November 22, 2024) as well as the remaining four days, but the temperatures are unlikely to increase drastically. Mr. McDonald wants the sun to emerge from the clouds at the earliest so that the surface can behave close to its traditional nature.

“I mean, everyone talks about the traditional baking of the top. We can kind of manufacture that with more rolling and less water on top if we have to. We’re testing the wicket hour by hour, so it’s quite condition-based at the moment. So at the moment we’re leaning towards rolling it a bit more on top to get that firmness and that happy medium between bat and ball. But yeah, fingers crossed, the sun pops out,” he said.

Pakistan recently bundled out Australia for 140 in an ODI at the Optus Stadium in Perth. The grass cover was expectedly less for a limited-overs game, 4 mm to be exact. It will be at least double for the India-Australia Test opener.

“How much grass will we get to see before toss? We’ve still got to try and get to a point where we think we’re going to be fine by Friday (November 22, 2024). We’re still in around the ballpark; 8 to 10 mm was where we were last year as well,” he added.

“So we’re sitting quite comfortably and having quite open conversations within the curating team about what we feel is appropriate and where to go from there. There’s still really good pace and bounce in the pitch. It’ll just come in how well they look after the ball and how true the surface stays. We’re meant to get to 30-32 degrees over the weekend, so we’ll see what the grass on top does there, but in terms of coming off cracks, I just don’t think we’re going to get there,” felt Mr. McDonald.

Perth is hosting the opening game of a marquee series, and that is bound to put some pressure on the groundstaff. However, Mr. McDonald is not feeling the heat.

“I don’t think it’s pressure; it doesn’t change what I do. I’ve still got to deliver the best playing surface I can. So in terms of pressure, I don’t know if we’re, another word for pressure, I suppose, you know. It’s nice to be the first test. The excitement around it is nice. The buzz is nice. The energy in our team is great. And it’s something that we all look forward to every year,” he said. He chose to stay on the fence when asked what he would do if he won the toss on Friday (November 22, 2024).

“It’s way above my pay grade, mate. I think we’re setting ourselves up really nicely for it. All things are leading to getting that pitch rock hard come Friday (November 22, 2024) morning, and as I said, people above my pay grade will get to choose and see what they do,” Mr. McDonald added.