Where's Tom?

Tom Parker, the unassuming Sydney curator, has become the most wanted man at the SCG in the lead-up to Thursday's semifinal. The interest in what brand of pitch Parker will produce for the blockbuster -- and whether Australia's wishes for a nice cover of grass on game day will be realised -- has the large Indian media contingent infatuated.

So much so that on Sunday, while the Super Rugby game was on between the Waratahs and Brumbies inside Allianz Stadium a couple of touring reporters went in pursuit of Parker down the tunnel underneath the SCG. They told ground staff they had been given permission by the ICC to interview him, which given the governing body's stance against just about anyone officially speaking publicly, ever, was obviously not true, and they were duly booted out.

On Monday, as the Australian and Indian teams began training in Sydney, there was more hype over the appearance of the ICC's pitches consultant Andy Atkinson at the SCG. It's been made clear, though, that this will not be Atkinson or the ICC's deck to prepare; that is Parker's responsibility alone, and his intention is to simply produce [and these are our inverted commas, not his] "a traditional SCG wicket".

The good news, for the Australians, is there was some grass on it on Monday. The bad news is they're not playing on it until Thursday. There's plenty of rolling to be done between now and then. The other factor, though, is the showers forecast for Tuesday.