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“That’s a good question, we’ve clearly favoured the bowlers in what we’ve done,” Page said. “How you look at that and where that sits on the scale, it’s not for me to decide. I’ll leave that up with Jeff Crowe.”
Page was as surprised as the cricket world after 20 wickets fell on Boxing Day.
“I was in a state of shock,” Page said. “I’ve never been involved in a Test match like it and hopefully never involved in a Test match like that again. It was a roller coaster ride for two days to see everything unfold.”
Page defended his team’s decision to leave 10 millimetres of grass on the pitch. He had shaved the pitch down to seven millimetres last year when Australia defeated India in the final session of day five, but the cooler and wetter weather leading into this game combined with heat on days three and four meant he needed a different approach.
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“We don’t get inconsistent bounce, we don’t get deterioration in our pitches and we’re trying to balance that contest between bat and ball throughout four or five days to provide that captivating Test for all,” Page said.
“For us, we left it longer because we knew we were going to get weather at the back end that we knew where we needed our grass at.
“You look back at it and go it’s favoured the bowlers too much days one and two. If that doesn’t happen we set ourselves up really good for days three and four.”
This Test was in contrast to eight years ago when Australia and England played out a dull draw in which bat dominated ball. It prompted crisis talks between the MCC and cricket authorities on the traits an ideal MCG pitch should have.
“If we don’t have seam movement at the MCG, we become very dull, very lifeless and very flat,” Page said. “That’s no good for the players, the spectators and no good for the game. For us, it’s about providing that seam movement. We’ve gone too far with this one and we’re very, very disappointed it’s only gone two days.”
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