Tour opener at MCG, not an ideal start for us: Clark

MELBOURNE: Australian paceman Stuart Clark feels his team has squandered the home conditions advantage by allowing India to start their Test campaign Down Under at not so pace-friendly pitch of the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Clark said, it would have been ideal for the World Champion side to have their tour opener at bouncier wickets like Brisbane and Perth.

"That way, we could really ram home our advantage. The conditions in Brisbane and Perth are so different to what you find in the subcontinent, and it would obviously be ideal from our perspective to play the first Test of series in places like that."

"From the team's perspective, it would be great if we were able to start series against the Indians and the Sri Lankas of world cricket at grounds like Brisbane and Perth and get the full advantage of our unique pitch conditions," Clark was quoted as saying in' The Age' on Monday.

Pitch curator Tony Ware has said that the MCG pitch would favour spin as the match progresses and Clark too said that he was not expecting any help from the wicket.

"The Indians don't get a lot of exposure to our bouncier surfaces and you'd probably say Melbourne isn't one of those. I'm not going into the match with any expectations for a fast bowler-friendly wicket, but we'll just roll up on the day and see what we're presented with.

"We're all well aware that scheduling these days isn't a simple matter, but I suppose you'd just like to get that real home-ground advantage if it was possible," Clark said.

Clark said that his teammates had answers to India's new found aggression.

"There has been a fair bit of talk from them about being aggressive, and that's fine by us. We are more than capable of fighting fire with fire."

The preparations for the big series were in full flow and Clark said the on-field duel against India's formidable batting line-up would be challenging for the home team.

"We've been doing our homework on them. There's been quite a lot of video analyses and today we had our first big discussion on the plans we have for them, and different ideas. We can't wait to get out there."

"It's going to be a great challenge for everyone, because they have some truly great players in their line-up and, in Sachin, one of the all-time greats," he said.