Test Cricket is returning to Western Australia today for the first time since 2019 as Australia takes on the West Indies in the first of two ties for the Frank Worrell Trophy, and the pitch looks set to be fast and bouncy.
In a match that will start in heat upwards of 30 degrees, pitch curator Isaac McDonald has offered some good news for the side bowling first.
“Recent pitches in the past have had the quick, fast, bouncy, characteristics. So we are trying to emulate in the long form,” McDonald told the AAP.
“We're lucky in our clay is the highest clay content in the country.
“We are able to push the clay further in limits and squeeze more life out of it. It just sets like concrete if you get it right.
“The warmer weather aids with our cricket soil, getting that extra hardness on day one rather than waiting for day two.”
If McDonald's words stay true in the scorching heat, the pitch could be reminiscent of the bouncy pitches the WACA used to produce.
But he doesn't want anything like the 2018 Perth Stadium pitch that became almost impossible to bat on when Australia played India.
That pitch ended up riddled with cracks due to the 37-degree heat that pestered the test match, ultimately leaving India all out in the final innings for just 140.
However, MacDonald says those unprecedented conditions won't be around to harm the game this time.
“That heat was unprecedented and it was for a long period of time,” McDonald continued on the 2018 match.
“The nature of that pitch still being quite new, the grass sods weren't fully developed at that stage and it's not quite as strong as it could be.
“The testing we have done so far tells us we have good moisture below (this year) ... I don't think there will be too many big cracks open up.”
As such, the pitch isn't expected to offer too much in the way of spin, but Australia will still be trusting Nathan Lyon, as usual, to take some of the pressure off the pace bowlers and perhaps take advantage of some of that extra bounce.
The first test begins at 1:20 PM AEDT, and Australia will be looking to start the summer of test cricket off with a victory.
