Interesting piece from Selvey, though he's probably using this info to come up with his "dead/unplayable pitch depending on how the Poms are going" excuses in the coming match.
Basically the WACA pitch has settled down because they've run out of the soil which gives it its bounce. They can resort to articifical tactics like leaving grass on or adding moisture, but those are just stop-gap tactics. I think it was last WACA-like when Pakistan played OZ in early 2005 and Akhtar reduced us to 5-70 or something in that opening session before Gilly and Langer (who both have the WACA as their home ground) mounted a rescue effort. That was the match that Pidge got 8fer. The year after, it was a high-scoring draw between OZ and SA.
The curator reckons he's found a suitable replacement finally, but who knows until they put it in and see what it's like over a period of a couple of years.
Shame - I used to love the sight of fast bowlers destroying batsmen at the WACA, and seeing the ones with good enough techniques thrive.
Everyone has been saying this and some people are even saying the best bet at the Waca would be to go in with 2 specialist spinners.
I read something that said that they've managed to locate some clay which was similar to the old Waca pitch but it will take a while to create a new one from it. In the meanwhile, we'll see another subcontinental road.
Its not just Selvy - was listening to an Aussie ABC presenter bemoning what had happened to Perth - basically he was saying that they had destroyed the 'quickest strip in the world' in a matter of 2 years.
I don't think it's as slow as people make it out to be. Last year i remember Ntini running through Australia causing them all sorts of problems. Then Brett Lee did the same thing to the proteas. It's nowhere near it's peak pace but it'll have more for the quickies than nearly all of the other pitches in world cricket.
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