The International Cricket Council (ICC) has announced that the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) has been given an official warning, in relation to the ‘poor’ rating given to the pitch for the fourth Test of the Australia v England series played at the venue from 26-30 December, 2017.
In arriving at the sanction, the ICC noted the comprehensive response provided by Cricket Australia, which did not contest the rating given to the pitch by the ICC Match Referee, Ranjan Madugalle, but highlighted that the ground is a frequently used venue that has no history of preparing poor pitches for international cricket, and indicated that there was a commitment by both the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) and Cricket Australia to improve the pitches presented for international cricket at the MCG in the future.
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The match fizzled out into a draw as the pitch offered very little for the bowlers making any other result virtually impossible.
The contest was the only match in the Ashes series to fail to achieve a result with England losing all four of the other Tests.
The MCG Test was the last Test to be rated under the old ICC Pitch and Outfield Monitoring regulations, with a revised process being introduced in men’s and women’s international cricket from 4 January 2018.
