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Ashes 2025: England End 14-Year Drought as Stokes Questions MCG Wicket
Ben Stokes on MCG Pitch, AUS vs ENG Melbourne Test: The fourth match of the Ashes series between Australia and England was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, which ended in 142 overs.
England emerged victorious in the fourth match in the series of the Ashes competition against Australia in Melbourne by 4 wickets. England team captain Ben Stokes thinks that had the preparations of the wicket for this Test match been done in any other parts of the world, more comments would have been generated against it. Nobody would like that the Test match gets over in less than two days.
The match began on Friday. Australia, having lost the toss and decided to bat, was all out for 152in the first innings. For England, they could only score 110runs. The total score of Australia in the second innings was 132runs. The target was chased, and they won the match in 32.2 overs. A total of 36 wickets fell in six sessions at Melbourne Cricket Ground, while there was 10mm of grass left. With this victory, England ended a 14-year drought of winning a Test match in Australia.
After the match, England captain Ben Stokes said, "When you go out on the field, and you're faced with such conditions, you have to step up and face them. But frankly, you don't want that. In a Boxing Day Test match, you don't want the match to end in less than two days. It's not ideal, but once the game starts, you can't change it. You have to play in the conditions you face."
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Australia's acting captain, Steve Smith, questioned the preparation of the MCG pitch, saying he didn't know why head groundsman Matthew Page left so much grass on the pitch. Page will address the issue on Sunday. Steve Smith said, "We let the groundsmen make the decisions and do what they felt was right. I said before the match that it looked like this wicket would help a lot, and it probably helped more than we thought."
He further said, "As groundsmen, it's a difficult job. They're always looking for the right balance. I think last year's wicket was excellent, with the match going into the last session on the fifth day. If the grass had been reduced from 10 mm to 8 mm, it would have been a great and challenging wicket. But groundsmen are always learning, and they'll probably learn something from this, no doubt about it."
