Sydney: India's hopes of getting a turner in the traditionally spinner friendly wicket of SCG were dashed with the curator today predicting that the pitch would be more favourable for fast bowlers than it has ever been in the past.

"I think we will see a lot of bounce and good carry in it. I do not see any gremlins in it. I expect it to be a very similar to the Ashes deck last year," said curator Tom Parker ahead of the second Test, starting here on Wednesday.

Parker believed that warm weather had helped his team prepare a wicket containing plenty of life. That s bad news for the tourists who are looking for its batsmen to fire at Sydney after disastrous outings in the middle in the first Test at the MCG last week.

India is already down 1-0 in the series after the loss in Melbourne and the wicket might compound their problem further.
Although the pitch will offer help to the quick bowlers particularly in the early stages of the game, the curator also predicted some help for the Indian spinners.

The Melbourne wicket was more like a subcontinent strip and there was not much assistance for the fast bowlers, still India s famed Indian batting performed abysmally against the quickies and failed to get past 200 in both innings.

Source : PTI