Aus press moaning about the MCG pitch...
Self-interest was turned upside down and inside out during Thursday's fluctuations at the MCG. It had been this kind of Test match since Boxing Day. This event has been staged on a platform, more a false floor than a pitch, that has minimised and perhaps even nullified the home team's advantages, while preserving Australian curators' reputation for bloody-minded independence. If this was pitch doctoring, it was the kind of medicine that is, after all, becoming legal in Victoria. Here, groundsmen do what they do, national self-interest be damned.
smh
Interesting and perceptive piece highlighting the shortcomings of both sides, as well as the pitch. I did wonder if Mitchell Starc's injury would have been so debilitating if the series hadn't already been tied up...
Home advantage is over-rated. I remember being at Headingley in the early 90s to see Boon, Border and the Waughs tear England's bowlers apart, and Hughes and Warne doing the same to England's batsmen. None of Australia's current squad of journeymen would have broken into that line-up, not even Smith. And definitely not Tim Paine. What has set Australia apart from England in this series so far is discipline and focus - Aus have had plenty of it, England have had none, until this match, and even in this match it's only really Broad and Cook who have shone.
This match is far from over though. Aus could easily wipe out their deficit before tea today and establish a decent lead by the middle of the morning session tomorrow, then skittle through a nervy England in the final two sessions to steal the win. (Not that I'm going to put money on any predictions, not after my previous rash attempt at guessing how it would pan out.)
