Ind vs Aus: Perth Test curator reveals how pitch will play after unusual spell of rain

Border-Gavaskar Trophy: The Perth Test head curator Isaac McDonald has opened up how the unsual spells of rain has hampered the preparation and the potential behavior of the pitch during the five-day opening Test.

In Short

• Unusual rain in Perth affects pitch preparation ahead of 1st Test
• The curator assures bounce and carry despite rain impact
• Perth Test pitch to have more grass than recent ODI games

Perth Test chief curator Isaac McDonald has revealed that unusual rainfall in the city has impacted pitch preparations for the opening Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. However, McDonald assured that the surface would still deliver its hallmark bounce and carry, even though the infamous "snake cracks" seen in dry conditions are unlikely to develop.

The pitches at both the Optus Stadium and the nearby WACA ground are renowned for their pace and bounce. In typical dry conditions, cracks often open up, offering greater assistance to seamers and bringing spinners into play. However, persistent rain over recent days forced the pitch to remain covered all day on Tuesday, reducing the preparation time available for the ground staff. The city has been experiencing rain in recent days, and the pitch was covered for the whole day on Tuesday, reducing the curator's preparation time.

"Yeah, it's definitely not traditional Perth Test prep. Yesterday we pretty much lost the whole day of prep with it being under cover. So we kind of saw the forecast early on and we started prep a little bit earlier than we normally would. "So we're sitting quite comfortable still. It'd be nice if the sun would pop out and do its job but as of this morning we're in a good spot, we're really comfortable as a curating team," McDonald told the media ahead of the series opener beginning on Friday.

Border-Gavaskar Trophy: Full Coverage

The pitch is expected to retain moisture on match day, effectively ruling out the potential of significant deterioration over the period of five days. "I don't think the weather is going to make this pitch fall apart. There'll be some deterioration, grass will stand up during the game and offer that variable bounce but in terms of big snake WACA cracks, unfortunately I don't think the weather is going to get us there," said the head curator.

The curator explained that they are balancing the rolling and moisture levels to ensure an even contest between bat and ball. For the Test match, the pitch will have more grass than recent limited-overs games at the venue. While an ODI against Pakistan saw 4mm of grass, the Test pitch will feature approximately 8-10mm, maintaining consistency with previous years.

"I mean everyone talks about the traditional baking of the top. We can kind of manufacture that with more rolling and less water on top if we have to. We're testing the wicket hour by hour so it's quite conditions based at the moment.

"So at the moment we're leaning towards rolling it a bit more on top to get that firmness and that happy medium between bat and ball. But yeah, fingers crossed the sun pops out," he said. "We've still got to try and get to a point where we think we're going to be fine by Friday. We're still in around the ballpark, 8 to 10 mm, was where we were last year as well.

"So we're sitting quite comfortable and having quite open conversations within the curating team of what we feel is appropriate and where to go from there. There's still be really good pace and bounce in the pitch. "It'll just come in how well they look after the ball and how true the surface stays. We're meant to get to 30-32 degrees over the weekend so we'll see what the grass on top does there but in terms of coming off cracks I just don't think we're going to get there," felt McDonald.