Key events
Barney Ronay
Guess who just got back today? Those wild-eyed boys that had been away. This was a day of brittle, over-caffeinated cricket, on an MCG pitch streaked with faint green ridges. But it was also a day when the boys were, however briefly, back in town.
Ben Duckett and Jacob Bethell have been the two protagonists in the grainy, Zapruder-style footage from England’s six-day, mid-series jig-about by the sea. True to apparent recent form, both were here for a good time not a long time as England were bowled out for 110 in 29.5 overs. Both batted like men groping for the light switch in the dark against a new ball that seamed the width of the bat at times.
Geoff Lemon
For a while, Boxing Day 2025 felt like a re-enactment of Boxing Day 2010. We’re talking an amateur historical re-enactment, given the lower intensity and higher number of participants with private lives under investigation, but still, the broad shape of the thing was much the same. You had England choosing to bowl on a cloudy morning and finishing off the hosts in time for an early tea. The original instance lasted 42.5 overs, this repeat lasted 45.2, only 15 deliveries between them.
Yet this year’s edition felt different for more reasons than just a higher scoring rate that yielded 152 all out versus 98 all out last time around. In 2010, England owned the day, a Jimmy Anderson swing masterclass ripping out a paralysed middle order, Chris Tremlett lopping off top and tail like a légumier preparing string beans. The rehash was a less complete bowling effort that drew a strangely faltering batting response: chop-ons and leg-side nicks and run outs, occasionally the bowling team via Josh Tongue remembering to pitch the ball up before rocketing through someone’s defences.
Ali Martin
A record 94,199 spectators turned up to the MCG on Boxing Day and none will forget what they witnessed. An extraordinary 20 wickets fell on a pitch offering lavish movement and it left Cricket Australia fearing a second multimillion-dollar loss in this Ashes series.
The first of these came in Perth, when a two-day bunfight triggered mass refunds and had visiting fans scrambling to book sightseeing trips. This fourth Test always had the ingredients for a repeat, not just a surface with 10mm of grass but also a touring side in England who, having lost the Ashes and with criticism flying, looked broken before the coin even went up.
It actually landed in their favour here, Ben Stokes calling correctly, inserting his opponents without hesitation, and watching Josh Tongue skittle Australia for 152 before tea. Tongue was full value for his figures of five for 45, with his natural angle in, fuller length, and wobble seam asking more questions than one of the University Challenge Christmas specials.
However, for all the echoes of England’s famous Boxing Day performance here in 2010, there was also a nagging sense that, this time, it was signposting an ordeal for the batters. That ordeal ultimately came to pass in a crazed final session when England fell to 16 for four inside eight overs and, courtesy of Michael Neser’s four for 45, ended up 110 all out in 29.5.
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live, over-by-over coverage of the second and final day at the MCG. After a first day that was somehow both bonkers and kind of predictable, Australia will resume on 4 for 0 in their second innings, a lead of 46.
Nobody has a clue whether the spicy Melbourne pitch will get easier for batting on day two – or even tougher as the pitch quickens up. There are parallels with the first Test at Perth, when England took a first-innings lead of 40 and were hammered by eight wickets a few hours later. But precedents and logic don’t seem to count for much – not in a world where Will Jacks is England’s spinner, Scott Boland is opening the batting for Australia and England are under the pump due to a combination of Noosa and Neser.
The only guarantee is that today’s play will not be dull. Might as well just strap yourselves in and enjoy the ride.
