A secret practice match, green tops and injuries: Pakistan’s quest to put on a Boxing Day show

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Australia’s red-hot pace battalion will be given ideal conditions to inflict more misery upon Pakistan’s batters, who have vowed to fight fire with fire on a Boxing Day Test track expected to start off as a paceman’s paradise.

Whatever gifts Santa leaves under the tree for Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood for Christmas is likely to be at least matched the following day by MCG ground staff if the plans of head curator Matt Page bear fruit.

The MCG pitch five days before the match.Credit: Luis Enrique Ascui / The Age

Eager to continue the revival of what had been one of the most maligned and benign patches of turf in world cricket, Page is aiming to prepare a seam-friendly strip that will be in contrast to the lifeless featherbeds that are the norm in Pakistan.

In another blow to hopes for a competitive game, Pakistan’s already weakened pace attack will be without one of their shining lights from Perth after Khurram Shahzad was ruled out of the series with a rib stress fracture and an abdominal muscle tear.

MCG head curator Matt Page on the prized turf.Credit: The Age

So worried are the Pakistanis that they are underdone they have hastily arranged a two-day practice game at Junction Oval behind closed doors with no media access against a makeshift Victoria XI, featuring Test aspirant Marcus Harris and young batting star Will Pucovski, to adjust to local conditions.

Any match involving a touring team should theoretically be a precious opportunity to showcase the sport, but Cricket Australia said “the match is closed to the public due to the late request for the fixture which provided logistical challenges in allowing patrons and media to attend”.

But there will be no hiding on Boxing Day for Pakistan, who have lost their last 15 Tests on these shores, when a crowd of 70,000 fans is expected through the gates.

The green top which greeted Pakistan on Wednesday will likely be of a different hue by next week but if the pitches rolled out for the Shield this season are any indication then Shan Masood’s men, dismissed for 89 in the final innings at Optus Stadium, face another stern examination with the bat from Australia’s vaunted attack.

Seamers have taken 67 of the 76 wickets to fall in the two Shield matches at the MCG this season, while there has been just one score of 300 from eight innings.

“If we can get the pace and bounce like we’ve had in the Shield pitches, we’ll be very happy,” Page said.

The MCC has overhauled its pitch preparation after receiving a rating of poor for the 2017 Ashes Test when 24 wickets fell across the five days. With their pitch having lost its identity, and branded as a “bowler’s graveyard” by the late Victorian great Dean Jones, the MCC, after much introspection, sought to produce a more lively strip.

“We sat down … and we decided like this is what we want to produce, this is where we want to go, and it was having more life, trying to get more pace and bounce, and I’m trying to get a little bit more seam movement,” Page said.

“The people pay their hard-earned money to come in here on Boxing Day and people are turning on the TV and they want to see excitement.

“And that’s what I guess what we’re trying to do every year. We don’t always get it right but we’re always striving to produce that contest.”

Pakistan batter Saul Shakeel, who dug in for 28 and 24 in the first Test, said his team would be more proactive at the crease after scoring at a sedate 2.66 runs per over in the first innings, compared to Australia’s 4.29, when conditions were less challenging for batting.

“We need to be more positive with our batting approach and play more attacking shots to get runs,” Shakeel said.

“The second innings in Perth, the cracks were opening a little bit, it was slightly difficult to bat on the fourth day. They bowled well in their areas but the cracks in the pitch played more of a role.

“The matches I have seen in Melbourne are not that hard to bat on. We’re looking forward to this Test match.”

Perhaps one of those games he had seen was Pakistan’s last Boxing Day appearance in 2016 when former opener Azhar Ali made an unbeaten 205 in their declared total of 9-443. The visitors still lost – by an innings and 18 runs.

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