WACA returns to its roots

Four days before the third Australia-India Test,you can barely tell the pitch from the outfield. Sutherland and his crew havent yet trimmed the grass on it. Its unclear how exactly it will play when the Test begins,but Sutherland suggests it will be a traditional Perth wicket.

This,of course,has always meant fast and bouncy. But some point that,during the early 2000s,the WACA began to slow down. We werent getting any cracking, says Sutherland. We were getting some hardness,but we werent getting really hard. We werent getting grass recovery,which made it hard to get a really viable surface where we could get some nice kiss-off,where the ball hits and carries through.

To try and restore the wicket to its old stature as the fastest in the world,Sutherland went back to the old methods. We have changed our soil type,tried to align it to the traditional WACA characteristics. Probably more pre-1980s,and it has taken a fair while to achieve that.

In the pre-1980s days,the soil used to prepare the wicket was sourced from the town of Waroona,70 miles south of Perth,on the banks of the Harvey river. This soil,with around 80 per cent clay content,would set like concrete. Ill be able to stick my key into it in the afternoon,but by the time I came back in the evening,it would be rock hard, Sutherland says.

And over the course of Test matches,the wicket would form telltale cracks. The WACA museum has a picture of Rod Marsh looking at his bat,stuck in a crack and standing proudly vertical without anyone holding it up.

Soil scarcity

In between,as Harvey river soil grew scarce,curators blended other kinds of soil into the wicket,which resulted in the clay content dropping to around 60 per cent. The hardness was compromised,and the cracking disappeared,leading to Tests where batsmen dominated in the third and fourth innings. Sutherland has gone back to using Harvey river soil,even if sourcing remains an issue.

No one knew it would be such a problem in the 1930s,which is where our records of using the soil go back to,but now,schools,colleges,everyone is using it, Sutherland says.

The quickening process,Sutherland says,has also been aided by a change in the kind of grass used on the surface. Its not the sort of coarse grass you get in Sydney, he says. Its much finer. You can use it to springboard the ball. There wont be as much sideways movement. There will be some early,but youll get the bounce.

In recent domestic matches at the venue,according to Sutherland,there has been evidence that the WACA has become the trampoline of old. Ben Hilfenhaus got one ball to bounce over the keepers head for four, he says. In another match,Dirk Nannes had the keeper standing on the 30-yard-circle,with first slip two metres behind him.

Old-timers,Sutherland says,will still complain that the WACA isnt what it used to be. Theyre always saying it was quicker in their time. But Ive gone and looked at a lot of footage from the old days,and its not that different, he says. Youll have some people saying that the wicketkeeper is standing just as far back here as in Sydney,looking at how far he is in front of the logo,but the logo here is much further back,since television dictates that we cant have the keeper standing on it.

More than any visual cue,however,its the scorecard of the last Test match staged here,during the 2010-11 Ashes,that excites Sutherland. Australia won their only Test of the series,bowling England out for 187 and 123,but Sutherland says it was still a good wicket to bat on.

A true wicket

There was a lot of bounce,but not too much movement off the deck. Mitchell Johnson who took nine wickets in the match came in and suddenly started swinging it. You can have bowlers do that,and run through sides, he says. But it was still a true wicket. Mike Hussey who scored 116 in Australias second innings is from here,and knows how to play. He was leaving everything outside off stump,and then England thought theyd bowl shorter. He kept pulling and cutting them,and suddenly they didnt know how to bowl to him.

A clue,perhaps,for the Indian batsmen,who are likely to face a much quicker wicket than the one they played on four years ago. Were expecting more pace and bounce than the last time India came here, Sutherland says. Good cricket wicket last time,but we hope to have maybe an extra 20 per cent pace and bounce. Thats what we are aiming for.