Speaking on TNT Sports, Graeme Swann and Alastair Cook revealed that the MCG groundsman expects the surface to offer even more for the bowlers on day two. The view from the square is that the pitch will quicken and continue to seam sharply and batting could become an even greater challenge. There is a real chance this Test could be heading for a swift conclusion by tea tomorrow.
England’s lowest total in Bazball era
• 110 v Australia, Melbourne, 2025
• 112 v Pakistan, Rawalpindi, 2024
• 122 v India, Rajkot, 2024
Tongue: Brook showed how to bat on this pitch
“An amazing day. To bowl them out for 150 was a really good effort. Playing at the MCG on Boxing Day is the stuff dreams are made of.
“The amount of grass on the wicket was giving a lot of lateral movement. I thought how Brook batted — putting it back on to the Australians showed you have to work out how you are going to go about batting on this pitch.
“I always naturally get the ball to go away from the right hander and when I am at my best, it’s bowling at the fuller length. That one to get Smith out nipping back in felt really good.”
Cook: It’s not a good Test wicket
“It is not a great Test match wicket and it’s too heavily weighted towards the bowlers. I think it is a bit of an unfair contest.
“Both sides could have batted better, but it was going so far one way and then the other that I don’t know how you hit it. It’s a bit of an unfair contest.”
Stumps! Boland survives final over
Scott Boland just about survives the over finishing it with a boundary and gives a big smile as he walks off (Elizabeth Ammon writes).
Boland, left, walks out to open the batting with Head
QUINN ROONEY/GETTY
What an extraordinary/ridiculous day. There will be a lot of reaction to that bonkers day but there will be a debate about whether the MCG groundsman left just a bit too much grass on the pitch and that gave the bowlers far too much of an advantage.
It looks like Scott Boland is going to open the batting with Travis Head (Elizabeth Ammon writes). Delighted as Jake Weatherald would have been to be opening the batting at the MCG on Boxing Day, he wouldn’t have wanted to do it twice.
Australia will face one over
Australia will have to bat for one over after Cam Green wraps up England’s innings (Elizabeth Ammon writes). That was another exceptional performance by the Australian seamers who were absolutely relentless and that lead of 42 could prove to be very very handy.
WICKET! England all out for 110
Cam Green comes into the attack and takes the final wicket of Atkinson, who is clean bowled after trying to open up space for himself on the off side. His late flurry has been critical for England.
His tenth-wicket partnership with Tongue was England’s second highest partnership of the day.
Atkinson keeping England alive
This is a really impressive innings from Gus Atkinson — not chanceless, which is hardly a surprise on this pitch — but he shows a tidy technique (Elizabeth Ammon writes). He could move his feet a little more, though that could be said of plenty of England’s batters. The Surrey all-rounder is inching England towards parity and, if they can get within 20 or so of Australia’s total, it could yet be game on.
Barmy Army pay tribute to Shane Warne
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceAttack proving best form of defence
Melbourne has provided the sportiest Test match surfaces in Australia in recent years and this one has certainly been in that category as batsmen on both sides have struggled to get comfortable (Simon Wilde writes). Those who have chanced their arm have fared best. Australia’s top-scorer was their No8 Michael Neser, who was all at sea early on before opting to play his shots and finished with 35 from 49 balls with seven fours.
Atkinson attempts an ambitious scoop shot over his head.
ROBERT CIANFLONE/GETTY
Brook similarly decided from the outset to attack, charging his first ball. He drilled Mitchell Starc over long off and pulled Neser over midwicket for sixes and needed just 30 balls to become the first player in the match to reach 40. We are now seeing Atkinson adopt a similar approach and he has picked up 24 for his efforts so far.
Atkinson showing attacking intent
Gus Atkinson has taken note of those who have fared best on this pitch and is throwing his hands at it a little. He has chipped in with a valuable 24, moving England into three figures by flat-batting one past Neser to the boundary before clobbering another over extra cover for four more.
Carse tries to take on the surprise bouncer and skies it to Boland in the deep who takes an excellent catch and it’s a fourth wicket for Neser who has been superb with his lengths today — mostly a fuller length with the odd surprise short ball (Elizabeth Ammon writes). England could do well to learn from that, they have in this series been too quick to go to the short ball tactic.
We have had a day of high drama at the MCG in front of a record Ashes crowd of 93,442 (Simon Wilde writes). England won the toss, chose to bowl on a pitch of extravagant movement and bundled Australia out for 152 — Josh Tongue taking a career-best five for 45 — only to themselves then shed early wickets, slumping to 16 for four after just eight overs of their reply.
Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Zak Crawley and Joe Root were all out cheaply before Harry Brook and Ben Stokes steadied things slightly. Brook’s luck eventually ran out as he was lbw to Scott Boland for 41 off 34 balls and Jamie Smith soon followed, bowled by Boland for two, at which point England were 68 for six.
Tongue’s victims included Marnus Labuschagne and Steve Smith — who was bowled aiming a big drive — for single-figure scores, while Stokes chipped in with the important wicket of Alex Carey, caught at leg slip for the second innings in a row.
Gus Atkinson bowled very well to take two for 28 from 14 overs but his new-ball partner Brydon Carse had another poor day with the ball, bowling erratically in conditions that would have rewarded most seamers who put the ball in right spot time and again. He did however smartly run out Cameron Green with a direct hit. Had he bowled better Australia would not have made as many as they did. Even so, this was their lowest score batting first in a home Test since South Africa dismissed them for 85 at Hobart in 2016.
A lot of the preparations for this Ashes tour were based on the belief that Australian pitches are flat — hence why England felt they needed to hit Australia with pace and why the Kookaburra ball was used in some county championship matches (Elizabeth Ammon writes). They were warned by plenty of Australians though that the pitches in recent times have been doing a bit (perhaps not quite as much as this though) and England are struggling against the moving ball.
But with the wicket of Ben Stokes, it’s very very likely that Australia will be batting again tonight. It’s pretty questionable whether this can be deemed entertaining cricket, it’s certainly not boring but it all feels a bit unsatisfactory doesn’t it?
Is this pitch going to be talking point?
Cricket Australia and the MCG executives will not be at all pleased with the way this is going (Elizabeth Ammon writes). The stadium was a sell-out for the first four days but this one looks like it’s not going to last much past two days. Not good for their coffers.
It will be interesting to see how the ICC rate this pitch? Has it done just a bit too much to be a good Test pitch?
This is grim viewing if you’re waking up on Boxing Day. Ben Stokes wafts at a wide one from Richardson and the ball flies into the hands of Steve Smith at first slip. It is a huge wicket for Australia, and with the England captain back in the hut their innings looks close to collapse.
The Barmy Army are subdued as England continue to toil. Carse comes to the crease with England 83 for 8. With that catch, Smith goes to 212 catches in Test cricket — only two behind Root on the all-time list.
WICKET! Jacks falls for five
England are all over the place. They cannot cope with the consistency and relentless pressure of Boland, who takes his third wicket in as many overs. This one is a no-movement length ball, but Jacks dangles his bat and nicks through to Carey. England 77 for 7 now.
A record Ashes attendance at MCG
Today’s crowd at the MCG is the highest crowd ever recorded for a cricket match at the venue.
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceAnother wicket falls — England 68-6
Oh dear. Just as England were beginning to work themselves into a stronger position, Boland turns the game on its head and they are tumbling again. He removes Smith, who survives just three balls before Boland rips one through the gate and into the top of off stump.
Jacks comes to the crease at 18.2 overs with England 68 for 6. Familiar circumstances for Jacks, who almost nicks off first ball. Ben Stokes can barely watch.
Never mind all that. Just as Brook was landing a few counter-punches, Boland traps him leg-before for 41. It was a beautiful delivery, back of a good length and nipping into Brook, giving Boland his first wicket in front of his home crowd in Melbourne.
Smith comes to the crease with England 66 for 5. Can he keep up the form he showed in Adelaide?
Brook looking in good nick
After Root left him at the crease with England 16 for 4, Brook has hit the accelerator. We are used to seeing the Yorkshireman play like this — and, in fairness, it has been to his detriment at times in this series — but here he has dragged England back into the contest in emphatic fashion.
The fifty partnership is up with Stokes in the face of some excellent Australia bowling.
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Enable cookiesAllow cookies onceStokes and Brook battling
After four years away from Test cricket, Jhye Richardson takes the ball for the first time. Brook, switching into attack mode after England’s awful start, flicks him off his pads for a single before Richardson then draws Ben Stokes into a loose drive.
These two are showing some resistance here. The ball is swinging, nipping off the surface and conditions remain tough for batting, but the counter-attack is on.
Good morning and happy Boxing Day. If you’re just waking up, it has already been a breathless start in Melbourne. Josh Tongue starred for England with the ball, ripping through Australia’s top order as the hosts were bowled out for 152 — Tongue himself finishing with a five-for.
England’s batters, however, have once again struggled under the relentless pressure of Australia’s seam attack. A miserable half-hour after tea saw them slump to 16 for 4, and you join us now with Ben Stokes and Harry Brook at the crease.