{"id":373100,"date":"2025-12-26T14:00:20","date_gmt":"2025-12-26T14:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/373100\/"},"modified":"2025-12-26T14:00:20","modified_gmt":"2025-12-26T14:00:20","slug":"records-left-in-the-ashes-as-bowlers-blitz-boxing-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/373100\/","title":{"rendered":"Records left in the Ashes as bowlers blitz Boxing Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

The most wickets have fallen on day one of an MCG Test in 123 years as England’s broken Bazballers again crumbled against Australia’s fearsome pace attack.<\/p>\n

After skittling Australia for 152 in just 45.2 overs, England fared significantly worse, rolled for 110 in 29.5 overs 12 minutes before stumps on Boxing Day.<\/p>\n

Victorian hero Scott Boland, Australia’s No.11, was dropped off the fifth ball of the only over as a nightwatchman, then hit the final delivery of the day to the boundary as the hosts reached 0-4 in their second innings.<\/p>\n

\"Scott<\/p>\n

Scott Boland and Travis Head share a wry smile as they walk off after a hectic day at the MCG. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

A pitch with 10mm of grass proved a dream for fast bowlers as 20 wickets tumbled – the most on the first day at the MCG since 25 fell in 1902.<\/p>\n

It is also the most wickets on any day of a Test in Australia since 1951, when 22 were taken on the first day of the match against West Indies at Adelaide Oval.<\/p>\n

The combined score in Melbourne on Friday was 20-266, getting close to the 24 wickets that fell over five days during the 2017 Ashes Test at the MCG.<\/p>\n

\"Local<\/p>\n

Local hero Scott Boland took three wickets, then came out as nightwatchman. (James Ross\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Australia declined to pick a frontline spinner in a home red-ball Test for the first time in almost 14 years in a sign of the fast-bowling carnage that was about to come.<\/p>\n

All 75 overs sent down by both teams on Friday were from eight quick bowlers<\/p>\n

Even esteemed former pacemen Brett Lee and Stuart Broad criticised the pitch for being too much in the quicks’ favour.<\/p>\n

England paceman Josh Tongue starred with 5-45 for the third five-wicket haul of his Test career as the demoralised tourists gained a boost following captain Ben Stokes’ decision to bowl first.<\/p>\n

\"Tongue\"<\/p>\n

Josh Tongue picked up a five-wicket haul as England skittled the Aussies early on day one. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

But the joy was short-lived for England, who collapsed to 4-16 in only eight overs, with star batter Joe Root one of the victims.<\/p>\n

The only partnerships of note during the whole day came from Australia’s Michael Neser and Cameron Green and England’s Harry Brook and Stokes.<\/p>\n

Brook charged Australia quick Mitchell Starc (2-23) from the first ball he faced and continued counter-attacking.<\/p>\n

But that approach was never going to be sustainable, and he made 41 from 34 balls before being trapped lbw by Boland (3-30).<\/p>\n

\"Starc<\/p>\n

Mitchell Starc was the centre of attention after taking the wicket of Zak Crawley. (James Ross\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

From 4-66, England were obliterated again as Neser and Boland ripped through the middle and lower order to put Australia in a commanding position for their goal of a 4-0 series lead.<\/p>\n

The first Test of the summer in Perth lasted just two days, leading to a significant financial loss for Cricket Australia.<\/p>\n

But with this MCG pitch behaving, arguably, worse for batters than that Perth Stadium surface, the match is heading for another early finish.<\/p>\n

Neser, dropped for the Adelaide Test after a five-wicket haul in Brisbane, responded with a team-high 35 and 4-45.<\/p>\n

\"Australian<\/p>\n

Australia paceman Michael Neser was at his lethal best at the MCG on Boxing Day. (Joel Carrett\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

“A bit of a whirlwind,” Neser said of the first red-ball Test of his career.<\/p>\n

“A lot of wickers fell, but going into it you knew it was going to nip around with the amount of grass there.”<\/p>\n

Jhye Richardson and Neser joined Starc and Boland in a four-man pace attack, with captain Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon sidelined through injury.<\/p>\n

But Richardson – in his first Test for more than four years – was required to bowl just four overs, as the in-form Starc, Boland, Neser and a one-wicket cameo from Green took down England.<\/p>\n

Australia crashed to 6-91 just after lunch, but Green and Neser frustrated the bowlers with a 52-run stand.<\/p>\n

But Green (17) indecisively took off for a quick single, with Brydon Carse following up his own delivery and hitting the stumps.<\/p>\n

The 26-year-old Green has endured a difficult series with the bat, the lowlight being a rash shot to be bowled in Brisbane that placed his spot in the XI under scrutiny.<\/p>\n

\"Ben<\/p>\n

Ben Stokes and England teammates were all smiles after seizing early control on Boxing Day. (James Ross\/AAP PHOTOS)<\/p>\n

Starting to recover at 6-143, Australia collapsed again when Green was run out, losing 4-9 to bring an abrupt end to their innings.<\/p>\n

Australia had slipped to 4-72 at lunch as Tongue justified Stokes’ call to bowl first in the fourth Test.<\/p>\n

Tongue claimed the prized wicket of Steve Smith (nine), back after recovering from vertigo symptoms that ruled him out of Adelaide, with a ball that moved back to skittle his stumps.<\/p>\n

“He’s obviously an amazing player,” Tongue said of Smith.<\/p>\n

“I’ve grown up watching him, and getting him out is a very special feeling.”<\/p>\n

After retaining the Ashes in only 11 days, Australia are trying to continue England’s tour of misery by completing a 5-0 whitewash for the first time since 2013-14.<\/p>\n

It is the third time in their past five Tests Australia have chosen not to select a spinner, with Lyon dropped for day-night matches in Kingston and Brisbane.<\/p>\n

Despite Australia leading 3-0 and having already retained the Ashes, interest in the Boxing Day Test is as strong as ever, with a record crowd of 94,199 at the MCG on Friday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The most wickets have fallen on day one of an MCG Test in 123 years as England’s broken…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":373101,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[141296,64,63,2129,53166,18762,18587,1208,197147,124996,31024,44,1934],"class_list":["post-373100","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-ashes-test","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-ben-stokes","tag-boxing-day-test","tag-cameron-green","tag-cricket-australia","tag-england","tag-josh-tongue","tag-michael-neser","tag-mitchell-starc","tag-news","tag-scott-boland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=373100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/373100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/373101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=373100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=373100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=373100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}