The Optus Stadium in Perth is a hub of activity leading up to the first Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy between India and Australia, set to begin on Friday. The match is the first of a five-Test series which Australia are looking to win for the first time in a decade. There have been some unseasonal rains in the city in the lead-up to the Test, which might prevent big cracks developing on the pitch, curator Isaac McDonald has said.

However, McDonald also said that the ground staff are well on course to ensuring that the pitch is “rock hard” come Friday. “Yeah, it’s definitely not traditional Perth Test prep,” McDonald told the media on on Wednesday. “Yesterday we pretty much lost the whole day of prep with it being under cover. So we kind of saw the forecast early on and we started prep a little bit earlier than we normally would. So we’re sitting quite comfortable still. It’d be nice if the sun would pop out and do its job but as of this morning we’re in a good spot, we’re really comfortable as a curating team."

The first look of the Perth pitch showed a lot of grass on the surface. McDonald said that the initial plan was to depend on the sun to bake the pitch in the days leading up to the Test. But with the overcast conditions, the ground staff may have to "manufacture" the baking process.

“I mean everyone talks about the traditional baking of the top. We can kind of manufacture that with more rolling and less water on top if we have to. We’re testing the wicket hour by hour, so it’s quite conditions-based at the moment. So at the moment we’re leaning towards rolling it a bit more on top to get that firmness and that happy medium between bat and ball. But yeah, fingers crossed the sun pops out," he said.

Can't say what captains are going to do after winning the toss

McDonald said that a lot will depend on how the team looks after the ball and how the surface holds up over the course of the Test. However, chances of the ball flying off cracks is now minscule.

“It’ll just come in how well they look after the ball and how true the surface stays. We’re meant to get to 30-32 degrees over the weekend so we’ll see what the grass on top does there but in terms of coming off cracks I just don’t think we’re going to get there," he said.

The curator also refused to commit to whether the captain winning the toss would be better served batting or bowling first. “It’s way above my pay grade mate. I think we’re setting ourselves up really nicely for it. All things are leading to getting that pitch rock hard come Friday morning and as I said people above my pay grade will get to choose and see what they do," he said.

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