‘Furry and green’: The MCG Grinch that cruelled spinner’s Boxing Day hopes

Melbourne’s green MCG pitch is the Grinch who stole Boxing Day from Todd Murphy, while Cameron Green’s Test spot is on notice with a demotion to No.7 in the order as Australia seek to batter their way to 4-0 in the Ashes series.

As England’s players trained on the outfield in Santa hats passed to them after they got off the team bus on Christmas morning, Australia’s stand-in captain Steve Smith pointed to the surfaces increasingly prepared around the country as the reason why Murphy did not even make the 12.

Jhye Richardson, Brendan Doggett and Michael Neser are competing for two pace spots alongside Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland, with a final call to be made on match morning.

If Murphy is also left out in Sydney, Australia will have picked a specialist spinner just twice in five Tests this summer, having done so for every match played in this country dating back to a WACA Ground game against India in January 2012. Smith described Adelaide Oval’s surface, which spun for Nathan Lyon before he tore a hamstring, as anomalous.

“A lot of the wickets we’re playing on at present are more seam friendly than spin friendly. Last week was an anomaly, we saw some rough, and we saw Nathan come into play big-time,” Smith said. “You’ve just got to play what surface you’re presented with, and this one out here looks like it’s going to offer a fair bit of assistance for the seam bowlers.

“Ten millimetres of grass, quite furry, quite green, so I daresay it’s going to offer quite a bit, particularly a tomorrow’s conditions are quite similar to today, quite cold and overcast, so there’s going to be quite a bit of movement in that surface.

“I think if Nathan was here we’d be having the same conversation as well, so it’s nothing to do with Todd’s skill. We know he’s a quality bowler, he’s played games for Australia and done really well, and it’s great to see him here this week. I’m sure he’s a pretty good chance to play next week in Sydney.”

While Josh Inglis lost his place so Usman Khawaja can continue in the middle order after scores of 82 and 40 in Adelaide, Green has this year slipped from batting No.3 in the order to five, six and now seven. His two Test hundreds have been made at Nos.6 and four respectively, and Smith said the 26-year-old needed to make more of his starts.

“In terms of his batting, he hasn’t got the output he’s wanted so far, but he’s had a couple of really good starts where he’s looked nice and comfortable at the crease,” Smith said of Green.

“It’s about just making those starts and turning them into bigger scores. We’ve seen how talented he is and what he can do in the game with bat, ball and in the field, he saves us a truckload of runs at gully with balls that no one else is going to stop.

“We all thought Uzzy played really nicely last week, he’s putting the pressure on when he needed to, and he absorbed it when he needed to. He’s got that No.5 spot right now and Cam with the way his whole package is set up helps us out at seven as well.”

Richardson’s recall has been much-anticipated by the Australian selectors, who have seen him bowl high-quality spells in all of his three Test matches so far, the most recent against England in Adelaide in 2021.

“He’s just got a great set of skills, swings the ball both ways, seams it, accurate, a bit more skiddy than some of the others, he’s a bit shorter, bowls decent pace,” Smith said.

“It’s been a long lay-off for him, and he’s done all the work to get back. He’s been around the group a couple of weeks now, getting his loads up, and he’s in a good spot.”

After Jofra Archer was ruled out of the rest of the series with a side strain, Smith and the rest of the Australian batting line-up will be confident of scoring enough runs to give their pace attack something to bowl at here – that’s after Travis Head tucks into the prawns.

“We’ll have a nice lunch together this afternoon and enjoy each other’s company and get ourselves ready for an exciting Boxing Day,” Smith said.

“I know Travis Head’s looking forward to the lunch, and he’ll get stuck into the prawns, he’ll have more than everyone I can assure you, so it’s going to be a cool day with all the families around.”

Australian 12: Steve Smith (capt), Jake Weatherald, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Scott Boland, Brendan Doggett.

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