Back to future for 'baked' Adelaide Oval pitch

It's not only a West Indies squad strewn with untried Test aspirants that will lend a new look to the NRMA Insurance Test at Adelaide Oval starting on Wednesday.

For the first time since the historic venue switched to drop-in pitches to enable the redeveloped stadium to embrace a multi-purpose future, Adelaide Oval will host a daytime red-ball Test in the once traditional mid-January window.

From 1990 until 1998, Adelaide was the site of a Test match that would include the Australia Day holiday, an era that also saw the enlivening of a once moribund centre wicket square under legendary head curator Les Burdett.

But from the 1998-99 home Ashes summer until the current season, the Adelaide Oval Test has become largely a fixture in mid-December or even late November with only a couple of matches scheduled for January which has increasingly become the domain of the KFC Big Bash League.

The most recent day Test staged in January was the 2011-12 match against India which was also the last game staged on the ground's original wicket block before the drop-ins arrived as part of the hugely successful upgrade.

Since then, the venue that once became synonymous with high scores and turgid stalemates – it hosted six consecutive drawn Tests between 1985 and 1991 – has failed to produce a result only once, and that was when South Africa staged an epic final-day stonewall to defy Australia's bowlers.

From Wednesday, current head curator Damian Hough – who took over from his former boss Burdett in 2010 – will head back to the future by unveiling a pitch he believes won't be demonstrably different to those that have hosted day-night Tests since the historic maiden pink ball match in 2015.

"There's no difference at all," Hough said today when asked how a pitch for a day Test in the baking heat of mid-January might differ from a day-night fixture in November.

"We've been doing the same preparation since 2015 at Shield level, the same preparation when India had the day Test match (in 2018).

"The preparation is exactly the same whether it's a four-day or five-day, whether it's a red or a pink ball.

"It's got a slight green tinge through it, but it's dry and it's hard – 34C today and again tomorrow, so we expect it to lose a little bit more moisture and ready for a 10am start on Wednesday.

"We know that in January the evaporation is higher, so the temperatures are higher and we know it will dry out more.

"From the curators' side of things, you get that real baking.

"So the baking of the pitch should get it really rock hard which hopefully equates to better pace in the pitch than you would get in a November Test match."

When the West Indies played here last summer, with a team that contained just five players who will feature in the line-up for this week's contest, they were smashed by 419 runs after being knocked over for just 77 in their second innings.

Current vice-captain Alzarri Joseph, part of that defeat along with captain Kraigg Brathwaite, opener Tagenarine Chanderpaul, keeper Joshua Da Silva and veteran quick Kemar Roach who are also in this touring party, claims the visitors learned from their previous outing on the Adelaide deck.

Their preparation for a return bout was also aided by a three-day tour game against a Cricket Australia XI at nearby Karen Rolton Oval that was played on a drop-in pitch prepared by Hough and his ground staff at Adelaide Oval and transported through the city.

"Karen Rolton (Oval) is pretty similar – flat deck and a lot of grass," Joseph said today.

"So for us it was perfect for getting used to conditions here.

"Basically it's different with the carry and the bounce, so be a bit fuller.

"And you also have to be a bit more patient in this form of the game.

"Last time our lengths were a bit short, so we're looking to get a bit fuller.

"And stay patient on the good areas."

Not only is Adelaide Oval hosting just its second daytime Test since 2015, the starting time of 10am is earlier than Hough can remember for any previous international fixture at the ground that boasts just three head curators (Hough, Burdett and Arthur Lance) over the past 70 years.

So steeped in history is the lineage of the Adelaide Oval lawn growers, they will be commemorated on an honour board to be unveiled at the famous ground during the Test.

And while the drop-in pitches do not break up on the latter days of Test matches, due to their containment in huge concrete troughs, the grass cover is once again expected to provide purchase for spinners Nathan Lyon and his West Indian rival Gudakesh Motie as the game progresses.

That may help placate Lyon, a former member of Hough's ground staff at Adelaide Oval who has jokingly suggested his name should also feature on the curators' board given his contribution to the playing surface.

"With the mat of grass, the philosophy is the spinners can get it to purchase into that mat and get it to grip and turn and bounce," Hough said.

"I don't think we've seen a Test match where it hasn't done that.

"We're confident that spin will play a part, but at the same time for the quicks we hope it will nip around with the new ball and then as the ball gets older it gets easier to bat on.

"That's our game plan but whether it pans out that way, time will tell."

NRMA Insurance Test series v West Indies

First Test: January 17-21, Adelaide Oval (10.30am AEDT)

Second Test: January 25-29, Gabba (3pm AEDT)

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc

West Indies Test squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Alzarri Joseph (vc), Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Kirk McKenzie, Alick Athanaze, Kavem Hodge, Justin Greaves, Joshua Da Silva, Akeem Jordan, Gudakesh Motie, Kemar Roach, Kevin Sinclair, Tevin Imlach, Shamar Joseph, Zachary McCaskie