WACA Test pitch guaranteed to be fiery for speed kings to hit Poms WACA curator Matt Page with the pitch that will be used for the test match between Australia and England, starting next Friday. AUSTRALIAN cricket great Justin Langer expects Perth's pivotal Third Ashes Test next weekend will be played on a traditional fiery WACA Ground pitch. The former Test opener tips a fast track that will help with Australia's chances of victory. Langer says three Sheffield Shield games, as well as another first-class clash with England so far this summer, have all produced fire and ­intimidating bounce at batsmen. The 105-Test top-order batsman says the most exciting feature is bounce from pace bowlers ­carrying through to wicketkeepers at head-height. "If the pitch is anything like it has been for the three Shield games here this year, we can expect to see some real bounce where the wicketkeeper is taking it over his head again," Langer says. That's so exciting to watch. There will be some really good pace in the wicket. Australia smashed England by 267 runs inside four days at the last Ashes clash in Perth three years ago when adopted local hero Mitchell Johnson and Ryan Harris snatched nine wickets each for the match. It was Australia's only win in a 3-1 series loss. Langer says a firebrand WACA strip, as well as a manicured and smooth outfield, will be helpful to batsmen who survive speed barrage onslaughts. "The margin for error is always small for both batsmen and bowlers," he said. Playing at the WACA for batsmen is that if bowlers over-pitch, you feel confident to drive the ball and equally if the bowl short you can cut and pull, which is great from a batting point of view. That said, if you hit the WACA length for bowlers, ­because every time you nick a ball you get caught in the slips. The outfield is like an ice rink, so it's so fast you get value for shots. WACA chief Christina Matthews took an unusual step to shield stand-in curator Matt Page from any public comment on crucial pitch preparations just days out from Perth's Test. Head curator Cam Sutherland was sacked on the eve of the new first-class season and just two months from Perth's sell-out Ashes Test. Matthews and Page are expected to hold a media conference on Wednesday which is likely to be the only open ­access to assessment of traditionally one of the most brutal pitches on the world circuit and expected to offer assistance to Australian speedsters Johnson, Harris and Peter ­Siddle. Australia's selectors have already taken an unusual step to have two speedsters in emerging WA quick Nathan Coulter-Nile and NSW veteran Doug Bollinger on standby for Perth's Test if Johnson, Harris or Siddle emerge from this weekend's Adelaide clash injured or worn out. Matthews confidently predicted that all of the established traditional bounce is back in the world renowned WACA strip. "We would expect a traditional WACA pitch," Matthews said. Our state captain Adam Voges and coach Justin Langer are saying that it is a traditional WACA wicket. Matthews even expects next weekend's pitch to be quicker and bounce more on the second and third days, before becoming awkward for batting late into the five-day clash. It's reasonably even on the first two days and it's developing speed and bounce as the game goes along. It's the characteristics that you want in a game is the difficulty at the end of the game and not at the front end of the game. We're really confident of producing one of the best pitches we've had. Our Shield pitches and our tour game pitch have got outstanding ratings this year. This season, the pitches that we have had for Shield matches have had the best feedback that we have had for a long time. We're back to sides winning the toss and batting first, except fort Victoria not reading the pitch well where they made the mistake of bowling first and our batters built a good inning and then our bowlers were able to get the best from the wicket.