Seven declined to comment, but said in a press release the average national total TV audience was 1.52 million, up 16% on last year’s Boxing Day Test
Apart from the considerable financial loss for the sport, the shortened Test has also cost cricket the priceless opportunity to market the game through the exposure generated by the marquee fixture of the season.
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The magnitude of the miss was rammed home on Sunday morning when MCC chief Stuart Fox and head curator Matt Page addressed media to explain why the pitch produced just the 27th two-day Test in the format’s 2615-game and 148-year history. A total of 36 wickets fell in 142 overs, and the game finished in the final session of the second day.
The press conference took place outside the members’ entrance, which would have been jam-packed had there been play on Sunday.
Instead of an expected crowd of 90,000 scanning tickets at the turnstiles, about 1500 to 2000 fans attended a fan zone in the neighbouring Yarra Park where players mingled with fans and signed autographs in a one-hour appearance.
As of Sunday afternoon, the ICC had not released match referee Jeff Crowe’s assessment, but CA is not expecting a favourable finding. The most likely rating is “unsatisfactory”, which, according to ICC guidelines, is given for a pitch that “does not allow an even contest between bat and ball”.
“It wouldn’t surprise me if it doesn’t get a very good marking,” Greenberg said on Sunday. “That’s my early intelligence.”
An inquisition on what should have been day three of the Boxing Day Test.Credit: Wayne Taylor
An unsatisfactory rating carries with it one demerit point but, with six needed over a rolling five-year period for the MCG to be suspended from international cricket, the real cost of such a penalty would be the reputation damage.
Despite the serious ramifications for cricket and the famous venue, Fox publicly backed Page, who had played the chief role in turning an MCG pitch which had become a graveyard for bowlers into arguably the best Test strip in the country before this week’s turbocharged match.
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At the start of the summer, the MCG was the only Australian venue to have received the top rating from the ICC in the previous three seasons.
“We brought Matt on eight years ago because he’s considered one of the best in the country, if not the best,” Fox said. “I still believe that and I always will.
“He’s done a great job. Him and his team work tirelessly to get this right. You can see he’s disappointed. He carries that responsibility. My job as a leader is to support people. When you believe in your people, you get behind them and support them. I know he’ll respond and the team will.”
Fox and a forlorn-looking Page both conceded the pitch had not allowed for an even contest between bat and ball.
Page defended his team’s decision to leave 10 millimetres of grass on the pitch. He had shaved the pitch down to seven millimetres last year when Australia defeated India in the final session of day five, but the cooler and wetter weather leading into this game combined with forecast for heat on days three and four meant he needed a different approach.
“We don’t get inconsistent bounce, we don’t get deterioration in our pitches and we’re trying to balance that contest between bat and ball throughout four or five days to provide that captivating Test for all,” Page said.
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“For us, we left it longer because we knew we were going to get weather at the back end that we knew where we needed our grass at.
“You look back at it and go it’s favoured the bowlers too much days one and two. If that doesn’t happen we set ourselves up really good for days three and four.”
Page said he was in a “state of shock” after 20 wickets fell on Boxing Day.
“I’ve never been involved in a Test match like it and hopefully never involved in a Test match like that again,” Page said. “It was a roller coaster ride for two days to see everything unfold.”
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