CRICKET POLL

The Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) pitch, used for the recent fifth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT), has received a 'Satisfactory' rating from the International Cricket Council (ICC). The world body has rated all other four BGT venues - Optus Stadium in Perth, Adelaide Oval, the Gabba in Brisbane, and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) - 'Very Good.'

"The SCG has been striving to bring out their unique characteristics of early pace and bounce before the pitch wears and spins. This year was a step in the right direction to achieving this which provided an exciting finish to the Border Gavaskar Trophy series and bodes well for the Ashes summer in 2025-26," Cricket Australia said in a statement.

The ICC pitch ratings, interestingly, were released by the CA. The world body is yet to make an announcement.

The SCG pitch came for some criticism with both former and current players coming down heavily on the nature of the surface. With a thick layer of grass on the surface, the Test lasted less than three days and there were just about 191 overs bowled, just 685 runs scored with 15 wickets falling on the second day of the Test.

Sunil Gavaskar squarely criticised the pitch stating that it was not ideal Test track. "This is not the ideal Test match pitch that you want because you want it to go into a fourth and fifth day. If 15 wickets fell (on one day) in India, all hell would have broken loose. We had Glenn McGrath saying he'd never seen so much grass. Did you hear any former India cricketer moan about the pitch?," the former India captain, who was commentating during the series, said.

Apart from McGrath, a few of the current Australia players also did not rate it highly. Usman Khawaja called it a stinker. "I'm not gonna lie, I didn't want to talk about it too much beforehand, but the wicket was a stinker. It wasn't like a traditional SCG wicket with the new grass on it, there's cracks all over it, it's been tough batting, the scoreboard will tell you that. Thankfully we were on the right side of the win but when it's a wicket like that you're always on a knife edge," he told ABC Radio.

Steve Smith, who has been stranded at 9999 runs, said it was the toughest pitch he saw in Sydney. "By a mile. It was two-paced, up and down, seaming all over the place, swinging. I've never played on a wicket like that at the SCG before. It was incredibly difficult to bat," he was quoted as saying by the media.