However the best efforts of three Australian specialists couldn't produce the right blend, forcing tour promoters Moore Sports to import clay from the United States.

"The issue with it is that we tried to mix the materials locally here first," Moore Sports chief executive Jason Moore said.

"Because of the geology of Australia, we just couldn't come up with the same material that was up to MLB standard. We weren't able to locally mix the materials despite the efforts of three technicians that are experts in these sorts of materials. For the pure fact of the geology of the Australian soil and Australian rock is different to that in the northern hemisphere, we just couldn't do it.

"Hence why we had to bring it in from the States and follow special quarantine guidelines. We spent six months trying to do it here with at least 10 trials with the three different specialists in the field. We were sourcing materials from all over because it's a mixture of many different elements, which the MLB keep to themselves. It's not public knowledge, it's like the colonel's herbs and spices."

In order to adhere to Australia's strict quarantine guidelines, the clay – which was sourced from San Diego – had to be extracted from five metres below the surface.