A cool morning at the Melbourne Cricket Ground saw the visiting side England win the toss, with captain Ben Stokes putting Australia in to bat. The expectation was that Stokes and his team believed that the pitch would offer some early assistance to the bowlers, and so it did.
Travis Head and Jake Weatherald walked into the middle to get things underway for Australia. Both openers come off a heavily-contrasting performance in the Third Test, with the former scoring a century and the latter losing his wicket after failing to dispute an on-field decision. However, the going was tough in the opening few overs, with Head falling first to a disciplined Gus Atkinson.
The England pacer showed great accuracy while bowling to Head, maintaining the line outside off stump at a good length. This prevented Head from freeing his arms much, forcing him to cut the ball more often than he would like, eventually chopping one onto his stumps after scoring 12 runs.
Brydon Carse was a mixed bag from the other end, as has been the case throughout this Ashes series so far. He went for a steady rate of four runs per over and lacked accuracy in the first session, allowing Australia to release the pressure slightly. The first change saw Josh Tongue come into the attack, which saw England turn the tide in their favour in dramatic fashion.
Tongue dismissed Weatherald with a regulation delivery with just his second ball of the Boxing Day Test at the MCG. The line going well down leg side tempted the lefty to flick one off the pads, only to find the faintest of nicks as Jamie Smith completed the catch with ease.
Marnus Labuschagne and captain Steve Smith looked to steady the flow of the innings for Australia. However, both failed to settle at the crease and fell prey to Tongue, who was rampant in the first session.
He set up the former with four accurate deliveries that were moving towards the stumps. The wicket came in the fifth ball of Tongue’s second over, forcing Labuschagne to drive at a ball outside off, only to edge one to Joe Root in the slips.
Smith was the next in line as he looked tentative at the crease throughout his 31-ball innings. The right hander moved back and forth in his crease to create his own length to some lovely bowling from the England pacers, but eventually lost his wicket. Josh Tongue bowled a full delivery which whizzed under Smith’s bat and crashed into the stumps as England picked up their fourth wicket of the morning.
The slight grass cover on the surface has offered some purchase for England’s bowlers, who have teased the Aussie batters with their lines and lengths. They will look to maintain their discipline after the break and just need to stick to their plans and the rewards will seemingly come.
England would have liked to have bowled the way they have begun the Fourth Test with in all of the matches so far, but will look to build upon a fantastic spell from Josh Tongue. The right arm pacer is 3/24 from his eight overs, bowling two maidens as well. Atkinson picked up the other wicket as Australia are in a spot of bother at 72/4 going into Lunch.
Usman Khawaja (21*) and Alex Carey (9*) will get us underway after the break as they will look to stay in the middle for an extended period to bring the hosts back into the game. Stay tuned!
