A record 94,199 spectators turned up to the MCG on Boxing Day and none will forget what they witnessed. An extraordinary 20 wickets tumbled on a pitch offering lavish movement and Cricket Australia were left fearing what would be a second multi-million dollar loss in this Ashes series.
The first came in Perth, when that two-day series opener triggered the refunds and left visiting supporters scrambling for sightseeing trips. This fourth Test 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.
The toss actually landed in their favour here, Ben Stokes calling correctly, inserting his opponents without hesitation, and watching Josh Tongue skittle Australia for 152 all out before tea. Tongue was good value for his figures of five for 45, with his natural angle in, fuller length, and wobble seam asking trickier questions than one of the University Challenge Christmas specials.
But for all the echoes up to this point of England’s famous Boxing Day performance here in 2010, there was also a nagging sense that Tongue’s success was signposting an ordeal for England’s batters. That ordeal ultimately came to pass when they fell to 16 for four inside eight overs and ended up 110 all out from 29.5, with Michael Neser claiming four for 45.
All that was left was for Scott Boland, fresh from figures of three for 30, to see out the final over of the day as an auxiliary opening batter. Boland just about survived, an edge just short of gully before he squirted the last ball of the day for four to prompt cheers from his fellow Victorians. Australia closed on four runs without further loss, a lead of 46 runs, and everyone could breathe.
A simple scan down England’s sorry scorecard may prompt folks to assume recklessness and mutter a few curse words about so-called Bazball. Although the one player who backed their eye and took the aggressive option ended up the top-scorer for either side on this absurd day, with Harry Brook’s 41 from 34 balls a relative triumph in what were challenging circumstances.
Brook had walked out at eight for three in the fifth over and danced down the pitch to Starc first ball for an almighty yahoo. It met fresh air, admittedly, but Brook was undeterred, crashing two fours and two sixes with invention. His eventual dismissal saw him trying to move across his stumps and clip Boland into the leg side, only to be beaten for the simplest of lbws.
Ridiculous as it sounds, one wonders how many England would have mustered had more of them taken it on. But over the course of three defeats a number have begun to question everything they spent three years learning, the upshot being a collection of meek pokes and, in the case of Joe Root, the longest duck of his career after edging behind to the 15th ball he faced.
While Neser was exceptional in his first red-ball Test match, probing away after a useful 35 with the bat, Mitchell Starc was the bowler to cause this collective meltdown. The left-armer was also the man to trigger the cascade of wickets, turning Ben Duckett into a pretzel and seeing a catch pop to mid-on on five. Not for the first time on tour, Duckett looked disorientated but he was not alone on a dizzying day at the MCG.
Ali Martin’s full report to follow …
