Someone could have been killed: Dennis Lilee slams pitch at Optus Stadium

Lilee said that the Optus Stadium is a "great football arena" he is "not sure how great [it is] as a cricket arena".

The inaugural Test at the Optus Stadium saw Virat Kohli, Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Nathan Lyon and Umesh Yadav struck with vicious bounce, though none were seriously hurt. @ Twitter

Pace legend Dennis Lilee has slammed the pitch at the new Optus Stadium, the venue of the second Test between India and Australia. The Perth curator revealed a green top on the eve of the encounter, but what panned out during the course of the four days was a deck that was rated ‘average’ by the ICC, the lowest pass mark.

Lilee, who has been in constant battle with the Western Australian Cricket Association (WACA) for shifting Tests to the new ground, said the variable bounce could have got someone killed.

“They want to improve very quickly the wicket they served up,” Lillee, who resigned from his post as WACA president in 2015, told Channel Seven on Thursday.

“Variable bounce like that, if you’re playing for your game, as four guys were in that match, I don’t think I’d like to play on a wicket like that that’s up and down.

“If you look at it, really analyse it, someone could have been killed on that pitch because it was very much some were taking off, the odd one was keeping low. The odd one that just took off a length, I don’t think that’s good for cricket.”

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The inaugural Test at the Optus Stadium saw Virat Kohli, Marcus Harris, Aaron Finch, Nathan Lyon and Umesh Yadav struck with vicious bounce, though none were seriously hurt. However, Australia coach Justin Langer didn’t see anything wrong with the deck and said that “anyone who says there’s anything wrong with that wicket … must have been watching a different game”.