Mastering the breeze can be tricky at MCG

MELBOURNE: Any unwary visiting team member is warned of two things before stepping into the Boxing Day Test at the MCG: the bounce in the pitch and the crowd in the stands. While both can be intimidating, curator David Sandursky believes the biggest challenge for teams here is to understand and master the flow of the breeze. Like the Wanderers in Johannesburg, the MCG has a "bullring", boxed-in feel to it. While that does not hamper swing, knowing the direction of the breeze can be a tricky affair.

"The breeze ends up being pretty opposite to what it actually is," Sandursky told TOI on Wednesday. "The wind comes from outside the stadium and hits the scoreboard on the right and rebounds. It can be pretty weird. It bounces off the stands and comes back too."

There's a simple trick to knowing the direction of the breeze, though. "Watch the flags on the top of the stands," says Sandursky. "Whichever way they're moving, your breeze in the middle is in the opposite direction."

While that's food for thought for visiting captains, India will also be wary of the bounce, though their batsmen mastered the conditions at the Gabba quite well on the first day. "The bounce is not as steep as the Gabba, but I would say we're second," said Sandursky, "The bounce is not spongy like it used to be. I like to have a pitch where if you win the toss or lose the toss, you don't believe the game's over. This is a new pitch, one which I've been working on for three years, and a virgin strip."

Interestingly, Nathan Lyon took five wickets here last year in the second innings of the Boxing Day Ashes Test, bagging 550 and getting rid of Pietersen, Bell and Stokes. Do India need to be wary of the off-spinner a second time?

"No," said Sandursky. "Lyon took five wickets so it can turn but the pitch is not necessarily known as a big turner." Back on India's 2007-08 tour, Sachin Tendulkar had said the MCG pitch "is slower and has less bounce" than other Aussie tracks.

Two of Indian cricket's all-time highs have come at the MCG: They won by 222 runs as Chandrashekhar ran riot with 12 wickets in the match in 1977 and Gavaskar scored a second-innings century, while Kapil Dev and Viswanath starred in the 59run win in 1981.

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