Josh Hazlewood has given his stamp of approval to the Perth Stadium pitch but has also admitted to being puzzled by its characteristics. The pitch has played differently throughout each day of the Test, at times offering considerable assistance to the bowlers – particularly through the aid of cracks and divots – while at others the demons subside and the batsmen regain some advantage.
“Yeah it’s a strange one,” Hazlewood said. “You see obviously patches where it’s flying around and hitting the cracks and then for a period it’ll go pretty quiet and it’s manageable to bat.
“I think definitely right-armer around the wicket to left-handed batters there’s more cracks on offer.
“I feel when I’m coming around the wicket to right-handers it feels a little bit more like a normal wicket, there’s not as many cracks there or up and down but yes, from time to time it jumps around and then it can calms down.
“The morning sessions seems like they’re a little bit better for batting – I’m not sure why – and then as the day goes in I think the cracks might reappear. It’s an interesting one with the drop-in wicket as well so yeah not too sure.”
Drop-in pitches have largely been panned in Australia for their homogeneity and the loss of individual quirks that characterised each major ground, in the past giving the Gabba it’s quick and bouncy surface or providing the steady deterioration at Adelaide Oval in the manner of a traditional five-day pitch.
While the WACA surface has steadily lost its reputation for fearsome pace, there were questions surrounding the nature of the drop-in pitch and the kind of cricket it would produce.
The base elements of the Perth Stadium pitches at Gloucester Park, next to the WACA, are characterised by a high clay content, which helps give the surface its extra bounce.
Overall, Hazlewood’s verdict was a positive one, and he agreed that it was a fun surface on which to play.
“Yeah I think so,” said Hazlewood. “That’s from a bowlers point of view, definitely!
“But we’ve seen hundreds as well and quite a few guys getting fifties and it’s obviously gone to the fifth day, so there’s plenty there, and I think it’s exciting that things can happen any time of the day and its pretty competitive with bat and ball.
“I think if you’re comparing to the WACA, whereas its obviously not a drop-in at the WACA and the cracks just keep getting bigger and bigger, these have appeared pretty early and I guess haven’t widened too much, if that makes sense.
“So yeah, it’s definitely different.”