BGT: Head curator Matt Page believes MCG will be “more seam-friendly than spin” at Boxing Day Test

Melbourne [Australia], December 23 (ANI): The Melbourne Cricket Ground head curator Matt Page on Monday reflected on the spinners’ role at the upcoming Boxing Day Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) and said that the pitch will be “more seam-friendly”.

The series is currently tied at 1-1 after India secured a draw in the third Test in Brisbane. The Boxing Day Test will kick off on December 26 at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Speaking at a press conference, Page said that over the years in the Test format, the pitch has been more favourable for the pacers than the spinners. He accepted that even in the upcoming Boxing Day Test it will help the fast bowlers more.

“It doesn’t really break up in spin here. So, I mean, you look at, I guess, our long-format games over the last probably four or five years, they’re probably more seam-friendly than spin, so I don’t see that changing for this,” Matt Page told reporters.

Earlier last week, Australia made a couple of changes to its squad, addressing the absence of Josh Hazlewood and concerns in the top order. The hosts have added Beau Webster, Jhye Richardson, and Sam Konstas have been added to the squad before the fourth Test match of the series.

After a mild side strain in the Perth Test which ruled him out of the second Adelaide Test, Hazlewood did return for the third match in Brisbane but faced a calf strain during the warm-up on the fourth day. He bowled one over and left the field for scans which confirmed the serious extent of his injury, ruling him out of the series.

In the first Test at Perth, Hazlewood had taken five wickets, including a four-wicket haul in the first innings. Scott Boland will likely take Hazlewood’s spot in Australia’s playing eleven for the fourth Test, held at the MCG, starting from December 26 onwards.

India Squad: Rohit Sharma (C), Jasprit Bumrah (VC), Yashasvi Jaiswal, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Devdutt Padikkal, KL Rahul, Rishabh Pant (wicket-keeper), Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel (wicket-keeper), Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar.

Australia Squad: Pat Cummins (C), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Travis Head (VC), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Jhye Richardson, Steve Smith (VC), Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster.