Former England captain Sir Alastair Cook claimed “the bowlers didn’t have to work that hard for wickets” after 20 fell on the first day of the fourth Ashes Test in Melbourne.
Ben Stokes’ tourists are 3-0 down in the five-match series – but they showed some fighting spirit after putting Australia into bat.
The Aussies were 152 all out in 45.2 overs in their first innings, with England paceman Josh Tongue taking five for 45 to register his third five-wicket haul in the Test arena.
England skittled (again)
Tongue castled Steve Smith, smashing his middle stump with a beast of a delivery, but England failed with the bat once again, being skittled for 110 all out.
Only England vice-captain Harry Brook (41 off 34 balls) and Gus Atkinson (28 off 35) offered any resistance with bat in hand for the beleaguered tourists.
And at close of play on a hectic day one, Tongue told TNT Sports: “The amount of grass that was on it, that lateral movement helped me massively, especially with my type of bowling.
“It is doing a bit out there with the new ball but I think how [Harry] Brook batted out there gave it back to the Aussies. Gus [Atkinson] at the end as well. It is about having a plan.”
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Neser torments England batters
Australia bowler Michael Neser was the main tormentor of England’s batting order, snaring four wickets for 45 runs which included the scalps of Jacob Bethell (1), Joe Root (0) and Stokes (16).
Neser refuted talk that the MCG pitch was too bowler friendly, saying: “You can’t judge a wicket until the end of the game.”
An ‘unfair contest’
But after seeing 20 wickets fall on a single day of an Ashes Test for the first time since 1950, former player-now pundit Cook disagreed, telling TNT Sports: “This is not a great Test wicket.
“Unless this flattens out on days two, three and four, if we get there, then that was too heavily weighted in the bowlers’ favour.
“The bowlers didn’t have to work that hard for wickets.
“Could both sides have batted slightly better? Yes, but if you put the ball in the right area, it was going to nip either way. It was a bit of an unfair contest.”
Cook added: “I was watching some of that bowling and I was thinking, ‘I don’t know how you face that’.
“The pitch should flatten out tomorrow [Saturday] but the groundsman was telling me he doesn’t think it will do.”
Score summary after day one of the fourth Test at Melbourne
Australia first innings – 152 all out in 45.2 overs:
Josh Tongue (5-45), Gus Atkinson (2-28), Ben Stokes (1-25), Brydon Carse (1-42); Michael Neser (35), Usman Khawaja (29), Alex Carey (20)
England first innings – 110 all out in 29.5 overs:
Harry Brook (41 off 34 balls), Gus Atkinson (28 off 35); Michael Neser (4-45), Scott Boland (3-30), Mitchell Starc (2-23).
Australia second innings – 4-0 after one over:
Scott Boland (4no), Travis Head (0no); Gus Atkinson (0-4)
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