Captains raise concerns over MCG pitch

The MCG drop-in pitch used for the Pura Cup match this week has been called "average" by Brad Hodge, who wants the ground's wickets to improve. A portable surface will be installed for the Boxing Day Test and the opposing state captains Hodge and Simon Katich agreed their strip was slow and lifeless.

"It's not good for scoring runs and not good for taking wickets," Hodge said in the Age. "Judging on that you'd have to say it's an average wicket at the moment."

Hodge said the surface promoted "quite boring cricket" and the MCG ground staff had three weeks to fix it before the India Test. "From one year to the next the wicket's always different," he said. "You've got to really adjust as a team from one year to the next because you're not sure what drop-in wicket you're going to get."

Rain on the final day of the Victoria-New South Wales game forced a draw, although batting was slow throughout the match. "I wouldn't want to be playing on them all the time," Katich, who scored 141 in the first innings, said of the drop-in pitches. "They probably don't have the same type of carry the normal wickets around Australia do. They start with a bit of carry for the quicks but as the game wears on they just become slower and lower and lifeless."