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Optus Stadium’s head curator Isaac McDonald is set to welcome India with pace, bounce and cracks reminiscent of the old school WACA when the first Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy begins on Friday 22 November. Watch every ball of Australia v India LIVE & ad-break free during play in 4K on Kayo | New to Kayo? Get your first month for just $1. Limited time offer.
India’s famous series win in Australia four years ago did not include a Test match in Perth, and they have only played at Optus Stadium once before when the Australians picked up their only win of the series in 2018/19. The venue has hosted only four Tests previously - all of which Australia have won - and last year’s encounter with Pakistan was played on a lively pitch that opened up with cracks as the match went on, and had a healthy amount of grass which offered plenty to the fast bowlers despite a David Warner century guiding Australia to a first innings total of 487. More of the same can be expected this time around.
“This is Australia, this is Perth...
I’m setting ourselves up for really good pace, really good bounce and really good carry,” McDonald told ESPNcricinfo. “In a perfect world, I want to emulate last year.” Ten millimetres of grass was left on the pitch against Pakistan and the liveliness led to Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith all copping body blows.
Labuschagne declared post-match that it was one of the toughest pitches he had ever batted on, but McDonald believes it was near-perfect. “Ten millimetres was pretty comfortable with the conditions that we had [last year] and that held the conditions together nicely for the first few days. Live grass on the pitch is speed,” McDonald said.
“Both bowling units were pretty rapid last year and hoping for much the same this year. But, as we saw last year, good batters were able to take the game on and put away balls and score runs quickly.” The Test pitch will be different to the one used in Sunday’s ODI where Australia were blown away by Pakistan’s quicks.
Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Jasprit Bumrah and Mohammed Siraj would have been licking their lips seeing the bounce and carry that the likes of Shaheen Shah Afridi, Naseem Shah, Haris Rauf and Lance Morris extracted. Despite the way the Australian batters made it look, it was far from unplayable, and McDonald is searching for that type of balance for the next week’s Test. “Every wicket you make is conditions based.
You’ve got to back yourself with the conditions and make educated guesses around your moisture content and how much rolling to do,” McDonald said. “It’s a juggling act but hopefully the match gets into day five or the last session of day four like last year. If we can get some nice cracks forming later in the game.
..the game takes care of itself.
” - INDIA LOCKDOWN WACA - In scenes more reminiscent of a head state coming to town than a cricket team, India are undertaking extensive security measures during their pre-series training camp at the WACA. To not let any state secrets get out, black tarps have surrounded the WACA Ground’s nets and WA Cricket staff members have been banned from using their mobile phones outside of their offices. There is also no filming allowed inside the ground, and staff are banned from certain parts of the precinct.
Even Cricket Australia officials were reportedly unsure of what India’s exact plans for their preparations were. The WACA nets are normally visible from the street, but the public will not be catching a glimpse of India’s cricket heroes at all before the first Test at Optus Stadium. Their three-day intra-squad warm up match to be played from Friday to Sunday has now been closed to the public as the Board of Control for Cricket in India make their build-up to the Border Gavaskar Trophy as air-tight as possible.
It all sounds like a covert operation from an action movie, but it has become common place for India over the years. They implemented similar security measures when they were last in Perth - ahead of the 2022 T20 World Cup - but at least on that tour they played two practice matches against a WA invitational team that were open to the public. English Premier League football club Manchester United also used a high level of security measures when they were in Perth on a pre-season trip two years ago.
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