Curator Matthew Page has moved to ease fears about the state of the MCG pitch for the Boxing Day Test, saying the surface used in the most recent JLT Sheffield Shield match at the venue should be disregarded.

The 22 yards in the middle of the MCG is under even greater scrutiny than normal this year following the lifeless track used for last summer’s Test against England, which was officially rated “poor” by the International Cricket Council and criticised widely by players and pundits.

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All four Shield matches last season were also drawn games while two of the three domestic matches this year have ended in stalemates, although one was significantly hampered by wet weather.

The third of the three games this season was a sluggish drawn match between Victoria and Western Australia earlier this month, which raised fears of a repeat of last year’s Test.

But Page explained on Sunday that given he was pleased with the pitches produced for the opening two Shield matches, he tried something different for the third match, which he concedes backfired.

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“We went into that game trying to get it a little bit harder and a little bit drier … and we didn’t get the result we wanted,” he said of the Vic-WA match where 31 wickets fell over four days.

“But we’ll learn from that, we’ll move forward and make sure it doesn’t happen again.

“We had three Shield games leading into this and the big plan for us was to play around with a few things to ensure we get it right for Boxing Day.

“We’ve got some things right … and other things we wanted to improve from.”

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Page said the Test pitch will most closely replicate the surface used for the Shield match between Victoria and South Australia last month, where the Vics were denied victory by a washed out final day.

The average total across the three completed innings of that game was 275, with Tom Cooper and Test batsman Peter Handscomb scoring first-innings centuries and Test opener Marcus Harris posting 65.

Victorian quick Scott Boland took 7-54 in the first innings and nine wickets for the match as quicks from both sides dominated, although leg-spinner Fawad Ahmed also picked up four wickets to indicate both pace and spin bowlers found some assistance.

“I think it was the best pitch we’ve played on the G for probably three years,” Boland told cricket.com.au on Sunday.

“There was a bit of green grass and a bit of carry through for the quicks, which is rare given what we’ve been used to in the past.

“And I’m sure Nathan Lyon and if (Ravichandran) Ashwin plays, they’ll be a handful on that as well.

“The bowlers felt in the game the whole time and … if the batters can get in, they can still make runs.”

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Victoria finished that match at 2-22 in their second innings after being set 123 to win.

“We were unlucky not to get a result through losing the last day through rain, but there seemed to be a bit there for everyone,” Page said.

“There was a bit for the quicks, a couple of guys scored hundreds, and the feedback we got from that game was really positive.”

Having relocated from the WACA Ground this year, Page denied last year’s Test pitch had put any extra pressure on him heading into his first Boxing Day Test as MCG curator.

“It doesn’t matter what pitch you get the previous year and what rating you get,” he said.

“Every year you try and do the best possible job you can. Whether you succeeded the year before or (not), I think there’s still the same pressure there.

“There’s a lot of excitement being my first Boxing Day pitch. Yes, there’s pressure there as well, which is understandable being a big sporting occasion. But I’m very excited.”

Domain Test Series v India

Dec 6-10: India won by 31 runs

Dec 14-18: Australia won by 146 runs

Dec 26-30: Third Test, MCG

Jan 3-7: Fourth Test, SCG

Australia squad: Tim Paine (c, wk), Josh Hazlewood (vc), Mitch Marsh (vc), Pat Cummins, Aaron Finch, Peter Handscomb, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Nathan Lyon, Shaun Marsh, Peter Siddle, Mitchell Starc, Archie Schiller

India squad: Virat Kohli (c), Murali Vijay, KL Rahul, Mayank Agarwal, Cheteshwar Pujara, Ajinkya Rahane, Hardik Pandya, Hanuma Vihari, Rohit Sharma, Rishabh Pant (wk), Parthiv Patel (wk), Ravi Ashwin, Ravi Jadeja, Kuldeep Yadav, Mohammed Shami, Ishant Sharma, Umesh Yadav, Jasprit Bumrah, Bhuvneshwar Kumar