BGT 2024-25: Perth pitch to have plenty of bounce and carry, says head curator

Hyderabad: Western Australia Cricket Association (WACA) head curator Issac McDonald, who is incharge of the pitch at the Optus Stadium, the venue for the first Australia vs India Test match, said the pitch would have plenty of bounce and carry but doesn’t expect to crack as much as it is spoken about.

Unseasonal rain lashed Perth and McDonald admitted that the rains impacted the pitch preparation but he was firm on the bounce and the carry part.

The tracks in Perth are known to be fiery and assist pace and bounce. The 22-yards is also expected to crack open in dry conditions, known as snake cracks due to its shape, and assist both the seamers and spinners.

However, with unusual rain lashing Perth, the pitch was mostly under covers and McDonald had less time to get it ready and started for the marquee Test series, that commence on November 22.

“Yes, it is definitely not a traditional Perth Test preparation. We pretty much lost the whole day of prep (on Tuesday) with it being under cover. So, we kind of saw the forecast early on and we started prep a little bit earlier than we normally would. So we’re sitting quite comfortable still. It would be nice if the sun would pop out and do its job but as of this morning we are in a good spot, we are really comfortable as a curating team,” McDonald told journalists in Perth.

McDonald said the pitch will undergo a bit of deterioration and variable bounce might come into play later on. “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,” McDonald explained.

Pakistan and Australia played an ODI match at the Optus Stadium last week and Australia were all out for just 140, helping Pakistan win the game. The grass cover was at around 4 mm on the pitch and the head curator said there could be about 8 to 10 mm of grass on the pitch for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy opener. “We have still got to try and get to a point where we think we are going to be fine by Friday. We are still around the ballpark, 8 to 10 mm, where we were last year as well. So we are sitting quite comfortably and having quite open conversations within the curating team of what we feel is appropriate and where to go from there. There’s still a really good pace and bounce in the pitch,” McDonald said.