'Grass, bounce and variable pace': Perth curator aims for 'rock hard' pitch despite rain challenges

Perth: Perth’s unusual weather has thrown a curveball at WACA head curator Isaac McDonald, who is working against time to prepare the pitch for the highly anticipated first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Despite the disruptions, McDonald remains optimistic that the Optus Stadium surface will deliver its trademark bounce and pace when play begins on Friday.

Rain in the lead-up to the Test has disrupted traditional preparations, with Tuesday’s downpour forcing the pitch to remain under covers all day. This has left the curating team with less time to achieve the iconic "baking" effect associated with Perth's pitches.

"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 comfortable 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," McDonald told media ahead of the series opener beginning on Friday.

"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," he added.

McDonald noted that the pitch is likely to retain some moisture at the start of the match, potentially making it less prone to significant wear and tear over the five days.

McDonald confirmed that the pitch would feature significant grass cover, estimating it at 8-10mm—a return to traditional levels for Test matches in Perth. "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 conditions 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.

With weekend temperatures expected to hover around 30-32 degrees Celsius, McDonald is curious to see how the grass holds up and whether it contributes to the pitch’s characteristically lively nature.

Despite the challenges, McDonald and his team are energised by the significance of hosting the first Test of this marquee series. "So we're sitting quite comfortable and having quite open conversations within the curating team of what we feel is appropriate and where to go from there. There's still be 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," said McDonald.