{"id":364950,"date":"2025-12-24T01:43:16","date_gmt":"2025-12-24T01:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/364950\/"},"modified":"2025-12-24T01:43:16","modified_gmt":"2025-12-24T01:43:16","slug":"wounded-england-must-salvage-more-than-pride-in-mcg-boxing-day-ashes-test-ashes-2025-26","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/364950\/","title":{"rendered":"Wounded England must salvage more than pride in MCG Boxing Day Ashes Test | Ashes 2025-26"},"content":{"rendered":"

The world famous Boxing Day Test awaits England\u2019s beaten cricketers and we are about to discover whether the mighty coliseum that is the Melbourne Cricket<\/a> Ground becomes their arena of the unwell; whether pride can be salvaged or it is just another stepping stone for Australia in their pursuit of an Ashes whitewash.<\/p>\n

Last year a record 373,691 spectators passed through the turnstiles across five days as Australia overcame India in a slow-burn thriller. This fourth Ashes Test was tipped to top that remarkable figure potentially but that will hinge on it similarly going the distance. It also needs the locals to be energised still by a series that has already been won<\/a> by their team \u2013 even if simply beating the old enemy is usually enough.<\/p>\n

England lasted just seven sessions here four years ago<\/a>, the match settled before lunch on day three when Scott Boland ran through them on debut like a bull down the streets of Pamplona. The statue that Mark Howard called for on commentary is yet to materialise but memories of England\u2019s gory innings defeat come flooding back when walking through Yarra Park to the ground.<\/p>\n

That was also a rare live Boxing Day Ashes Test, albeit only because the pandemic forced the series to start later. This time England are 3-0 down after seeing their challenge disintegrate in just 11 days and they are playing for a combination of pride, World Test Championship points and, as Rob Key and Brendon McCullum<\/a> have both admitted in recent days, potentially jobs.<\/p>\n

Going by some of their post-match comments after the 82-run win in Adelaide, Australia\u2019s hunger for 5-0 is real. Achieving this would say even more about their resilience. Having battled with high-profile absentees throughout the series, Pat Cummins is now out for the remainder \u2013 back rested after that remarkable one-Test cameo \u2013 and likewise Nathan Lyon with a torn hamstring.<\/p>\n

Brendon McCullum is under pressure as England head coach with the series already lost before arriving in Melbourne for the Boxing Day Test. Photograph: William West\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

For England the test of resilience will chiefly be between the ears and may be instructive as to whether McCullum\u2019s \u201chorse-whispering\u201d is still registering with his charges. Key, the team director, still believes in his man, calling him a \u201cbloody good coach\u201d on Tuesday. Although having stuck everything on him last year with a contract extension, he could hardly say otherwise.<\/p>\n

There may well be a change of personnel among them. Given they have shaken up the bowling attack already in this series, Key slightly gave the game away here. Without naming names, but while holding his hands up to the myriad things that have gone wrong so far on the trip, he admitted to wondering whether changes to the side should have come sooner.<\/p>\n

The sight of Ollie Pope doing laps of the vast MCG outfield on Tuesday while others were working in the nets pointed to a tap on the shoulder here, his tour having slightly unravelled since a deceptively calm 46 on the opening day in Perth<\/a>. Though a willing conscript to the team\u2019s attacking mantra, the 27-year-old seems the obvious one to make way from a faltering top three that has in turn heaped pressure on the middle order.<\/p>\n

Unless England bring in an extra bowler \u2013 not their style so far, despite what this asks of Ben Stokes, physically \u2013 this points to a return for Jacob Bethell, a year on from a promising debut in New Zealand but with little form to speak of since. It represents a huge task for a 22-year-old still awaiting his maiden first-class century, even before factoring in a 90,000-strong crowd.<\/p>\n

Jacob Bethell looks likely to replace Ollie Pope in England\u2019s XI for the fourth Test. Photograph: Gareth Copley\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is going to be a very good player,\u201d said Key, without confirming Bethell\u2019s spot. \u201cHe is a very good player. And I have no issue with him being able to go out and play a match-winning innings in an Ashes Test for us, if that\u2019s Boxing Day. I wouldn\u2019t be worried about that. Do I think it\u2019d be easy? No.\u201d<\/p>\n

England should have invested in Bethell during the Test summer by making the switch with Pope sooner. As it is, despite making his first senior hundred<\/a> in a one-day international against South Africa, his season was largely a wasted one. Key made a passing remark about a lack of opportunities at Warwickshire, which, given he released the left-hander for just one County Championship game, may trigger a fair bit of chuntering at Edgbaston.<\/p>\n

Either way, it would represent another punt by a regime with a gambler\u2019s streak that has started to see fewer and fewer payouts. No Cummins is unlikely to mean any let-up, not least with Boland back on his home ground, the impossibly limber Mitchell Starc set to push through once more, and the fast outswing of Jhye Richardson given a chance to join them.<\/p>\n

With McCullum frustrated that England were so cautious against Lyon during the first innings in Adelaide, only bringing out the sweep in the second, one area to exploit could be his replacement. Todd Murphy, another off-spinner, was attacked by them during the 2023 Ashes \u2013 even if that series seems a long time ago now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The world famous Boxing Day Test awaits England\u2019s beaten cricketers and we are about to discover whether the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":364951,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[447],"tags":[703,49,48,82],"class_list":{"0":"post-364950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-boxing","8":"tag-boxing","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=364950"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/364950\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/364951"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=364950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=364950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=364950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}