Australia’s stand-in skipper Steven Smith wasn't happy with the pitch served for the Boxing Day Ashes Test after his team succumbed to a four-wicket defeat inside two days at MCG.
The hosts were bowled out for 152 in their first innings after being invited to bat first on a green surface offering substantial sideways movement for pacers. In response, the Three Lions fared even worse and ended up conceding a handy lead of 42 runs.
The wicket continued to assist bowlers on the second day as Australia’s second innings folded for 132 soon after lunch, setting a target of 175 for England.
During the chase, the tourists came out all guns blazing as Ben Duckett (34 off 26) and Zak Crawley (37 off 48) approached the game like a T20. Australia did manage to get breakthroughs at regular intervals, but they came too little too late, and in the end, Jacob Bethell (40) and Harry Brook (18*) ensured that the Ben Stokes-led side cruised home with four wickets in hand.
After the loss, Smith said the track was heavily favourable for the bowlers and gave credit to England’s top-order for softening the ball early on to make it a more achievable chase.
“A very quick game, if we got 50-60 more across both innings we would be in it at the end. They were very aggressive when they came in, softened up the ball. The pitch did a fair amount for the whole game, just probably only when the ball got softened from a few lusty blows from their top order,” said Smith while speaking at the presentation ceremony.
The Melbourne pitch was prepared with 10 millimetres of grass on the wicket. It was evident from the fact that no batter has managed to hit a half-century across the four innings.
Smith defended the Melbourne curator, saying that this isn’t exactly what the intention from the pitch was.
“A little bit too much in favour of the bowlers, nobody could really get in. When you see 36 wickets across two days that’s probably too much. Did more than [the curators] wanted it to, if we drop it down to 8 mm might be a little bit better,” he added.
England captain Ben Stokes echoed similar sentiments, stressing that it wasn’t an easy pitch to bat on.
“It was short and sharp, very tricky. We tried to go out there and take the positive approach,” said Stokes. “It was heavily favoured for the bowlers. The way we went about today was exactly the right way to chase it down. Can’t let good bowlers run up and land it on the area that’s dangerous, and the way we combated that was brilliant. Showed bravery, were courageous, in the way we operated.”
With this victory, England avoided any danger of an Ashes whitewash. The five-match series currently stands at 3-1. The fifth and final Test will be played at SCG from January 4.
