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Brydon Coverdale at the WACA
January 11, 2012
Ricky Ponting believes Australia will adapt more rapidly than India to what he expects to be a traditionally fast and bouncy WACA pitch for the third Test. Ponting had been critical in recent years of the way the Perth ground had lost its uniqueness, comparing the surface on which South Africa chased down 414 in December 2008 to a flat Adelaide pitch.
However, Cam Sutherland, the curator, has tried to bring back the character of WACA pitches of old during the past couple of seasons. In December 2010, Australia played four fast men in Perth and earned their only win of the Ashes campaign. Sutherland hopes the surface will be at least 20% quicker than the one on which India won a Test in January 2008, and Ponting is hopeful of plenty of bounce.
"As Australian players growing up on fast, bouncy pitches - obviously this is the fastest and bounciest wicket in the world - we should be able to adapt to these conditions a bit quicker than the Indians," Ponting said. "We all enjoy playing here. The last few Tests we've played at the WACA it's starting to get some of its old characteristics back again. The pace and bounce is certainly coming back.
"I know a lot of the associations [around Australia] have been under pressure to get drop-in wickets. As soon as you start getting drop-in wickets the characteristics of each ground are gone. The last thing you'd want at the WACA is to come here and play cricket on a slow, dead, docile pitch. It's not what cricket is supposed to be like here in Western Australia.
"Everyone who comes and watches cricket in Perth wants to see batsmen ducking and weaving out of the way of short balls, batsmen getting great benefit for their shots down the ground, lots of square-of-the-wicket shots being played. If we get a fast, bouncy one this week, then I'm sure with the batting talent on display you'll see a lot of great highlights throughout the week."
Four days out from the third Test against India, which starts on Friday, the pitch was nearly as green as the outfield, and a couple of days later it was still sporting more grass than the average Test surface. However, Ponting said he was reluctant to take too much notice of how the pitch looked until at least the eve of the match.
"There's a bit of grass on the wicket at the moment," he said. "It is pretty green. But we're a day and a half out from the start of a Test match and with the sun out like it is, I think the wicket will change a little bit between now and Friday morning. I haven't read too much into the wicket yet."
Australia's selectors will need to decide whether to take a four-man pace attack in to the Perth Test for the second summer in a row, with the left-armer Mitchell Starc having joined the squad following the win in Sydney. The offspinner Nathan Lyon could be rested if the pitch looks like a fast-bowling paradise on the morning of the match.
Lyon has taken only two wickets in the series and the WACA is unlikely to offer him any more assistance than the conditions in Melbourne and Sydney. Ryan Harris is likely to come in as a straight swap for the injured James Pattinson, leaving Starc and Lyon to fight for the final place in the attack. Michael Hussey said Starc had shown plenty of promise in his first two Tests against New Zealand.
"He's an outstanding prospect, a great athlete," Hussey said. "He's got height, he's got the advantage of being a left-armer and the advantage of being able to swing the ball. It's good to see he's bowling with some confidence and he's a great prospect for the future."
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