Australia will play Pakistan in a three-match Test series; the first Test will be played at Optus Stadium in Perth starting on December 14.
The pitch had ten millimeters of grass two days before the opening test, but more grass will likely be cut. Isaac McDonald, head curator, anticipates a “hard, fast, and bouncy” playing surface. It should be noted that this match will just be Optus Stadium’s fourth Test.
The drop-in pitch at Optus Stadium was installed less than three weeks ago. The fields there have the same local clay and grass variety as the WACA surfaces, although they played slowly earlier in the Sheffield Shield season. Despite the oppressively hot late spring conditions when the Perth stadium drop-in surface was built, comparatively milder temperatures of about 30 degrees Celsius are predicted for the opening test.
“The weather is ideal for creating a really excellent, quick, firm, and springy pitch. The presentation and its progress are really making me pleased. I began playing last year at 10 mm [of grass], and that’s where I am right now. There’s still a prep day, though. I can’t see it sticking at 10, but it’s difficult to say. What I’m going for is definitely less grass on top,” McDonald told reporters on Tuesday.
There is less chance that the pitch will fracture in the latter stages of the match because of the weather forecast, which calls for moderate temperatures rather than the oppressive heat typical of many Perth Test matches. Given the different conditions they are in at this time, McDonald stated his opinion that the temperature won’t grow “hot enough” for the pitch to shatter.
“It simply doesn’t seem to get hot enough. To truly blow it open, you need three or four days in the high 30s to mid-40s. We’re somewhat sheltered here at the stadium, but the WACA is open and exposed to the wind, so it’s a different environment that we’re kind of locked in,” McDonald continued.
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