The drought is over.
After 15 years, England have lastly gained one other Check in Australia, popping out on the proper aspect of a fast-moving, two-day conflict on the Melbourne Cricket Floor.
Discuss of a 5-0 whitewash can now be parked however you sense there can be loads extra chat concerning the MCG floor, which featured 10mm of grass, as 36 wickets fell in simply 142 overs of a wild match.
None of these 142 overs have been bowled by a spinner with seamers monopolising on a heavily-grassed pitch on which no batter handed 50 – Travis Head’s 46 for the hosts one of the best of the lot.
The brisk end will price Cricket Australia hundreds of thousands of {dollars} as ticket refunds are issued and the organisation suffers misplaced gross sales in merchandise, foods and drinks.
CA CEO Todd Greenberg instructed SEN Radio earlier than day two: “A easy phrase I would use is – brief Exams are unhealthy for enterprise. I can not be rather more blunt than that.
“Historically we have taken a hands-off approach in all of our wicket preparation…but it’s hard not to get more involved when you see the impact on the sport, particularly commercially.”
However what did Sky Sports activities’ males on the floor Michael Atherton and Nasser Hussain make of the heavily-grassed wicket as this Ashes sequence skilled a second two-dayer in 4 Exams after the blink-and-you’ll miss opening contest in Perth?
‘I do not suppose Shane Warne would have thought that pitch was acceptable’
Hussain mentioned: “I don’t think the great Shane Warne would have thought that was acceptable and I don’t think it’s acceptable not having spin at all and there being so much movement in the surface.
“It was farcical at instances. That may be thrilling however there are traditionalists who just like the ebbs and flows and the sluggish construct. This was not sluggish, it was in fast-forward and we’ve got sufficient of that whether or not by way of T10, T20, The Hundred.”
Hussain then asked fellow pundit Atherton whether he thought the MCG surface was acceptable for Test cricket.
Athers said: “It wasn’t harmful and it was honest to either side within the sense that it did not change. It was a shoot-out on a tough pitch. However when it comes to spectacle it is unsatisfactory.
Australia stand-in captain Steve Smith says the MCG floor was an excessive amount of
“There was not an over of spin bowled in the game and you have 90,000 people who have got tickets for day three so this is going to cost Cricket Australia an absolute bomb.
“You additionally had gamers saying the one approach to play on the pitch is in an unorthodox method, so for every kind of causes, it’s an unsatisfactory feeling.
“I liken it to one of the rank turners we have seen in Asia in recent years where the pitch spins from the start. It is a fair contest in that both sides have an even chance but it doesn’t necessarily allow for the whole range of skills to show.
“England supporters will clearly be thrilled they’ve seen a win, and so will England gamers, however folks watching can be pondering, ‘what sort of Check cricket have I seen?’
“You come to watch a broad variety of skills and the game develop over a period of time. You are going to get extreme conditions from time to time but we have had two now in this series and I don’t think we want to see this too frequently.”
Stokes: MCG pitch would get ‘hell’ elsewhere
England captain Ben Stokes mentioned his suggestions to match referee concerning the floor would “not be the best”, including: “Being brutally honest, that’s not what you want for a Boxing Day Test match.
“You don’t need a recreation ending in lower than two days. I am fairly positive if that was some other place on the earth there’d be hell on.”
When asked by reporters if Stokes was referring to Asian pitches that can spin prodigiously, he said: “These are your phrases, not mine.”
Ben Stokes was one of many seamers to flourish on a inexperienced Melbourne wicket
Australia skipper Steve Smith, deputising for the rested Pat Cummins, mentioned: “I think the pitch was too much. It was tricky.
“Whenever you see 30-odd wickets throughout two days it’s most likely an excessive amount of. Perhaps we might drop the grass down from 10mm to 8mm.
“It would be good if it was a little bit longer and we were able to entertain the fans some more but it wasn’t to be.”
Ashes sequence in Australia 2025-26
Australia lead five-match sequence 3-1
