Boxing Day in the spotlight after Shield abandonment

The MCG's final match before this summer’s Boxing Day Test has been abandoned due to an unsafe pitch, but the Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) insists it won't instruct groundstaff to overcorrect and produce another lifeless surface for the iconic event.

Only 40 overs were possible on Saturday's opening day of the Marsh Sheffield Shield match at MCG as Western Australia's top order copped a succession of body blows after they were sent into bat by Victoria.

Divots on the pitch, caused by balls hitting the soft first-session surface, hardened as play wore on and made the pitch "unplayable", according to WA captain Shaun Marsh, who was struck in the helmet and checked for concussion symptoms.

Both Marsh and teammate Marcus Stoinis, who also copped a knock to the helmet, were given the all clear after passing concussion tests on Saturday.

Ground staff endeavoured to improve the condition of the pitch by working on it late into Saturday evening, but the decision to call the match off 30 minutes before play was scheduled to begin on Sunday morning was endorsed by both teams as well as the Australian Cricketers’ Association.

Melbourne Cricket Club groundstaff had left extra moisture in the pitch following criticism from Victoria captain Peter Handscomb of the wicket produced for the preceding Shield game against NSW, which ended in a draw.

The ploy backfired but both the MCC and Cricket Australia (CA) are determined to not see a repeat of the drawn 2017 Ashes Test when Australia face New Zealand on December 26-30.

That 2017 match saw just 24 wickets lost over five days on a lifeless surface, which was given an unprecedented 'poor' rating by the International Cricket Council. Its rating for last summer’s MCG Test (which India won by 137 runs and went into a fifth day) was bumped up to ‘average’.

"We don’t want to overcorrect and go backwards again and everyone be conservative," said MCC chief executive Stuart Fox.

"We've worked really hard over the last 18 months to try to produce really good pitches and we have produced two really good ones for the two Sheffield Shield (games) prior to this.

"We may have just pushed it a little bit too far (for this Shield match) but through a little bit of adversity, we may have actually created a benchmark … for the curators to now make some adjustments.

"We're still very confident we're on the right track for Boxing Day."

Both Marsh and Handscomb defended head curator Matt Page after play was abandoned on Sunday while Australia coach Justin Langer, who is in Perth for the Domain Test series opener against New Zealand starting Thursday, went a step further.

"On the surface everyone can panic, but I actually applaud Matt Page and the MCG," Langer told the ABC on Sunday. "There's been some pressure over the last couple of years ... it's been too flat and everyone's aware of that.

"They've pushed the boundaries - by the sounds of it a bit too much - to try and get a contest between bat and ball.

"Test cricket is like a big game of chess – when it's too batter friendly, that's not positive for anybody. For Test cricket to keep thriving, we need these wickets to (provide) a great contest."

 Victoria's drawn Shield game with NSW last week had been affected by rain while the MCG pitch for their previous match against Queensland earnt praise after the visitors won in the penultimate over of the game on day four.

"We've had a lot of draws at the MCG and it's about finding wicket that can get a result," said Handscomb. "Unfortunately (they went) a touch too far but I'm sure on Boxing Day he'll produce a beautiful cricket wicket.

"It's pretty tough. He (Page) is under the microscope at the moment through the media but he's a great groundsman, has been for a lot of years. He's worked at a lot of different conditions and done some great things out here.

"Pagey knows now the two extremes of the wicket. Come Boxing Day, he's on a new one and he'll work it out."

Cricket Australia cricket operations chief Peter Roach has spoken to New Zealand Cricket to assure them the Boxing Day Test will go ahead at the 100,000-capacity stadium.

"I've got more confidence that this Boxing Day wicket will produce a great contest between bat and ball than I did last year," said Roach.

"What we've seen this year is certainly different to what we've seen in previous years with the sideways movement. This game is a setback, but the learnings will be taken forward. 

"We've got full confidence that they'll look back on those last two Shield games and lean towards that."