Curator doesn’t expect Perth pitch to develop snake cracks

Isaac McDonald

WACA head curator Isaac McDonald on Wednesday said the unusual rain in Perth has impacted the pitch preparation for the first Test of Border-Gavaskar Trophy and though he doesn't expect the surface to develop snake cracks, there will still be plenty of bounce and carry.

The surface at the Optus Stadium or at the nearby WACA ground is known for its pace and bounce and when the cracks open up in dry conditions, it provides more assistance to the seamers besides bringing the spinners into play. Some of those cracks often take shape of a snake and therefore termed as snake cracks. The city has witnessed rain over the past few days and the pitch was covered for the whole day on Tuesday, cutting down preparation time for the curator.

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"Yeah, it's definitely not traditional Perth Test prep. Yesterday [Tuesday] 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 media ahead of the series opener beginning on Friday.

"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.

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