 "The much-awaited MCG Test between Australia and England most likely would end on Day 2 . Images: Reuters")
Charles Reynolds in Melbourne: England spent two sessions unwrapping an exciting and unexpected late Christmas present, before promptly dropping it and sadly scrabbling around and trying in vain to repair the catastrophic damage.
93,442 people filled the MCG’s cricketing colosseum on a chilly Melbourne day – the largest ever cricket crowd at the ground – they were witness to a day that could arguably serve as a microcosm of the whole series. Anything England can do, Australia can do better.
England unwrap hope, then drop it
This was not a day for batting purists. In 2017, Alastair Cook batted for 68 overs worth of balls on his own here, today Australia and England’s entire batting lineups only managed 75 between all 20 of them.
With 20 wickets falling on Day One, we are in with a realistic chance of the second two-day Test of the series – a pretty dire state of affairs for the most-highly anticipated Ashes contest in years.
Given the amount of lost revenue that scenario would entail, perhaps England are playing the long game and trying to bankrupt Cricket Australia in order to give them the crucial advantage in the 2029/30 series here.
Sadly it is not the ludicrousness of that suggestion that rules it out as a theory, but rather that it would involve a level of planning that we know is far beyond the grasp of this England team.
This has been an England tour plagued by muddled thinking, a disaster from the horrifying Day Two in Perth onwards, riddled with errors of judgement both on and off the field.
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View AllThe latest arguably came in England’s team selection for this match, Will Jacks’ inclusion at number eight, a move that looked questionable at the time and in hindsight seems even worse.
The pitch for this Boxing Day Test always looked like being an absolute seamers’ paradise – admittedly an odd choice for the country’s most iconic and money-spinning sporting event – and Australia duly decided to go without a frontline spinner, packing their deck with fast bowlers.
England meanwhile went with Jacks, who given his performance with the ball at Adelaide, and the unlikelihood of spin playing any sort of significant part in this match, is essentially a specialist batting number eight. Even for a team who have struggled so badly for runs across the series so far, this seems like a horribly defensive move.
The series has long gone, surely it would be better to go down swinging than placidly limping towards their fate. Even if both roads lead to a 5-0 whitewash, at least one route involves both more enterprise and excitement.
When the dust had settled from day one’s cricketing implosion at the MCG, Australia finished proceedings with a lead of 46 – Scott Boland surviving the one over Australia faced before the close, to leave his side with all ten second innings wickets up their sleeves.
England bowled reasonably well to initially dismiss Australia for 152, Josh Tongue in particular was excellent on the way to figures of 5/45. However there were periods when they were sloppy with the ball, perhaps most notably at the very start of the innings – never a great sign of competency.
Australia would not be so profligate with the ball – a word that feels faintly ridiculous given England bowled them out for so little, but damningly accurate by the time the tourists were all out for 110 just before the close of play.
This is arguably the first time in this series that England could not be considered to be ahead of the game at the close of day one – perhaps this a good omen given how the second instalments of those Tests went but it seems unlikely.
They have repeatedly failed to match Australia when on a better or equal footing in this series, to expect them to now do so from behind in the game seems a foolhardy idea. Unless they can produce something that has been beyond them for their entire time in Australia, the pain of another lost Test looks inevitable. At least this time they look to be ripping the bandage of defeat off quickly, put out of their misery without extending the agony too long.