India vs Australia | Justin Langer expects a lot of pace and bounce in new Perth stadium

The old Perth stadium had a reputation for being a fast and hard track until the early 2000s, but since then the surface flattened out to give a dead feel for traditional cricket fans. The last thing that WACA wanted was AFL’s switch from the venue to nearby Subiaco Oval as that resulted in huge financial loss. To bring in new audiences, WACA built another technologically advanced Optus Stadium which now prepares itself to host second India-Australia, beginning Friday. Although it is going to be venue’s first Test, Langer expects it to be like the one of the old. 

"There's been one four-day game in its history there. I went and watched a bit of the game, New South Wales versus WA. Certainly there was some pace and bounce. We've seen some pace and bounce in it during the one-dayers and T20 game and a fast outfield,” Langer said ahead of the match, reported Cricinfo.

"Again it's an unprecedented period - the first Test match on a drop-in wicket in Perth at the new stadium. Time will tell what the wicket brings. Hopefully that's what it is traditionally at the WACA, that's what we've talked about for a long time, pace and bounce. If we can get that, it'd be a great thing for Test cricket."

Perth is expected to provide a rather hot atmosphere once the Test starts and that may take a toll on the players’ workload. However, the good thing about this Australian is they have a rather young team composition who are likely to be fresher. The pacers also got sufficient break in between and will come back with fresh energy once the Test starts. Langer believes the break will help the pacers.

"On the one hand the youth helps us because they'll have the physical energy, but it's mentally very taxing playing Test cricket. I said that to Marcus Harris this morning, 'mate when you play 100 Test matches, Test cricket's really tiring'. It's something we're aware of, we'll work it out over the next few days, training will probably look a lot different at this time of the year than perhaps we've seen in the past.

"They [the pacemen] have had a couple days off, would've had three or four days off, India are in exactly the same situation. It's probably the one area where we just felt we're not wearing down the India bowlers enough this Test match. It's going to be hot on Friday, it'll be an important toss I would imagine, and there's always working out that balance, but hopefully on a wicket conducive to a bit of swing and seam, the bowlers will get the job done."

The Test starts on December 14 and India will want to win the Test so as to keep the Border-Gavaskar Trophy with them.

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