The pitch has been under heavy scrutiny following a two-day match in which 36 wickets fell across less than two full days of play.
The previous three Boxing Day Test pitches received the highest possible rating of 'very good' and the venue had no demerit points in its bank, leaving it well short of the six points required in a five-year rolling period required for a venue suspension.
“The MCG pitch was too much in favour of the bowlers," match referee Jeff Crowe concluded in his assessment of the surface.
"With 20 wickets falling on the first day, 16 on the second day and no batter even reaching a half-century, the pitch was ‘Unsatisfactory’ as per the guidelines and the venue gets one demerit point.”
'Unsatisfactory' is the second-lowest of a four-tier rating that the pitch receives after each men's and women's international match, with 'very good' and 'good' the two above and 'unfit' (three demerit points) the lowest.
The Melbourne Cricket Club (MCC) has stood by its head curator Matt Page following a tenure of several years in which he put the moribund surfaces of the late 2010s behind the venue, whilst last week's unsatisfactory pitch was an anomaly amongst a folio of excellent pitches.
Page said on Sunday he was "in a state of shock" following the 20 wickets to fall on day one, which prompted ongoing debate about the role of the pitch and of poor batting from both teams in the unacceptable speed of the Test match.
The two-day result is reported to have cost Cricket Australia (CA) upwards of an estimated $10m in lost revenue, whilst stakeholders such as television and radio broadcasters could lose as much as $25m combined as a result of no cricket beyond the second day.
CA Chief of Cricket James Allsopp expressed his disappointment in the outcome but noted "the MCG’s customary balance between bat and ball" in recent years gone by, asserting his confidence that Page's team can produce "first-rate surfaces" for the 2026 Boxing Day Test against New Zealand as well as the one-off 150th anniversary Test against England in March 2027.