It is understood match referee Ranjan Madugalle rated the pitch as ‘average’, which is the lowest pass mark provided by the ICC. The ICC introduced a disciplinary system at the start of the year in a bid to improve the standard of pitches around the world. It provides five ratings – very good, good, average, below average and poor – when rating Test venues.

The Adelaide Oval pitch used in the first Test received a ‘very good’ rating. Madugalle was responsible for the rating of ‘poor’ given to the MCG a year ago when Australia and England battled out a draw, while two of the last four Boxing Day Tests have also finished in draws.