Australia and England contrived to pack almost an entire Test match into a single, breathless day at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, where 20 wickets fell on a green-tinged surface and Australia edged marginally ahead after a chaotic opening to the fourth Ashes Test.
By stumps on Friday, Australia were 4 for no loss in their second innings, Scott Boland the unlikely nightwatchman on four not out alongside Travis Head, yet to score. It gave the hosts a slender lead of 46 runs after England had been bundled out for 110 in reply to Australia’s first-innings 152, a sequence of collapses played out in front of a record-breaking crowd of 93,442.
“It’s been an amazing day of Test match cricket,” said England seamer Josh Tongue, who emerged as the outstanding individual performer. “Obviously coming here this morning, winning the toss, putting the Aussies into bat and bowling them out for 150-odd, I thought we did an amazing job as a bowling unit.”
Tongue’s career-best figures of 5-45 were the centrepiece of England’s morning dominance after Ben Stokes won the toss and chose to field on the traditional Boxing Day stage. Australia, who have already secured the Ashes with three straight wins, were hurried through in 45.2 overs on a pitch that former England captain Michael Vaughan later described as a “shocker”.
Michael Neser, Australia’s leading run-scorer with a gritty 35 and their most effective bowler with 4-45, saw things differently. “We know it can move real fast day one and two,” he said. “Then once that wicket hardens up and dries out, it can be quite nice to bat on.”
Tongue set the tone early, bowling Steve Smith for nine through the gate – the latest chapter in a curious personal duel. The Nottinghamshire quick has now dismissed Smith in every first-class match they have faced each other, including twice at Lord’s during the 2023 Ashes. He also removed Jake Weatherald for 10 and Marnus Labuschagne for six as Australia slumped to 51-4.
“I feel like if you put the ball in the right areas, which I felt like we did today, you’re going to get your rewards,” Tongue said. “So you just stay patient and hang in there.”
If England felt they had seized control by tea, the alarm bells soon rang. Their reply was even more calamitous, the tourists losing wickets at a startling rate to be dismissed in just 29.5 overs. It was the most wickets to fall in a single day at the MCG since 25 came down during the 1902 Ashes, and it unfolded under the scrutiny of a crowd larger than any day of cricket previously staged at the ground, eclipsing the mark set at the 2015 World Cup final.
England arrived in Melbourne under pressure, not only from the scoreline of a series already lost but also from reports that some players had adopted a “stag party” mentality during a trip to Noosa between the second and third Tests. For a brief window, their bowlers offered a reminder of what might have been.
Their batters, however, had no answers. Ben Duckett’s miserable series continued when he drove loosely at Mitchell Starc and was caught for two. Zak Crawley edged the same bowler to Steve Smith for five, while Jacob Bethell managed just one before Neser had him caught behind.
Joe Root’s struggles deepened when he nicked Neser for a 15-ball duck, his second score of zero in the series. “It’s obviously a pitch that’s doing quite a bit,” Tongue acknowledged. “They’ve bowled well as well.”
A brief resistance came through Harry Brook and Stokes, who added 50 runs and trimmed the deficit to 86, but it was ended decisively by Boland. The Victorian pacer ripped through the middle order with a triple strike, taking 3-11 as he trapped Brook lbw for 41, bowled Jamie Smith for two and had Will Jacks caught behind for five.
Stokes could not haul England out of trouble, edging Neser to first slip for 16. Only a last-wicket stand of 19 between Gus Atkinson and Tongue offered fleeting defiance before Cameron Green bowled Atkinson for 28, allowing England’s bowlers the small consolation of sending down a wicketless over before stumps.
“For me, anyone could have taken a five-for today,” Tongue said. “It could have been Brydon, it could have been Gus. When I’m at my best I’m bowling at that fuller length. Stokes has spoken to us quite a bit about it – going a touch fuller but hitting the pitch hard.”
Tongue’s performance carried historical weight. He became the first England bowler this century to take a five-wicket haul in a Test at the MCG, the last being Darren Gough and Dean Headley in 1998. That it came in his eighth Test, and on a day when England desperately needed a lift, made it all the more resonant.
“It’s a dream come true,” he said. “Walking out at a packed MCG on Boxing Day with my family in town – that’s something I’ll never forget. I feel like the hard work I’ve put in, investing in my body and making sure I’m in a good place physically, I’ve got to give myself a bit of credit.”
