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A fighting England won their first Test on Australian soil in 15 years on Saturday, restoring their battered pride with a courageous four-wicket victory to clinch a chaotic fourth Ashes clash that was over in two days.
The pumped-up tourists dismissed Australia for 132 shortly after lunch in front of a massive crowd of 92,045 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, following the 20-wicket collapse on the first day.
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That left them chasing 175 to win, with Harry Brook unbeaten on 18 and Jamie Smith on three seeing them home for the loss of six wickets to the huge roars of their traveling ‘Barmy Army’ of fans.
Jacob Bethell contributed 40 and Zak Crawley 37.
“A good feeling, a tough tour so far,” said England skipper Ben Stokes.
“After the build-up to the Test, a lot of things were handed to us, to put in a performance based on all that and beat a very good Australian team, a lot of the credit goes to the players, staff and management for keeping the focus on the cricket.
“Very proud. We showed bravery and courage.”
England crashed in the first three Tests and arrived in Melbourne under enormous pressure amid questions about their limited preparations and allegations of excessive drinking during a mid-series beach break.
But they finally succeeded and will head to Sydney for the fifth and final Test, full of confidence.
England had not won a Test in Australia since January 2011 in Sydney, losing 16 and drawing two since then, and openers Crawley and Ben Duckett had a clear objective to end the streak: to play in the ultra-aggressive ‘Bazball’ fashion.
Duckett hit a boundary off Mitchell Starc in his first over, while Crawley slammed Michael Neser for a six and a four in successive balls.
They conjured up a whirlwind opening partnership of fifty, but the next ball Duckett was bowled by a Starc Yorker for 34.
Fast bowler Brydon Carse then moved into the middle as a surprise number three in place of Bethell.
But England’s batting experiment failed as Carse lasted just eight balls before sending Jhye Richardson to Cameron Green.
Crawley fell in weight to Scott Boland after a heavy hit and Bethell was caught behind by Usman Khawaja from the same bowler.
Richardson trapped Joe Root lbw for 15 and Starc accounted for Ben Stokes for two, but at that point only 10 runs were needed, and Brook and Smith finished the job.
“It was a tricky, fast-paced game,” Australian captain Steve Smith said.
“If we had got 50-60 more in both innings, then things could have been different. The wicket played as expected, but once the ball softened, it didn’t behave the way I expected.
“When you see 36 wickets fall in two days, that probably tells you that it did a bit more than expected,” he added of the MCG pitch.
Criticized ground
Australia rallied to make it 4-0 in their second innings after an explosive, fast-paced first day that saw 20 wickets fall, with the hosts dismissed for 152 and England just 110.
It was the most wickets fallen on the first day of an Ashes Test since 1909, and eclipsed the 19 on the first day of the series opener in Perth.
With 10mm of grass on the track, it was every bowler’s dream, but many former greats criticized the pitch for “overdoing it” and being “unfair to the batters”.
Night watchman Boland edged Gus Atkinson past wicketkeeper Smith, but the bowler left the field shortly after clutching his left hamstring.
Josh Tongue came into the attack with a hat-trick after taking Australia’s final two wickets on the first day, but Jake Weatherald whipped his full ball for three.
Weatherald needed a decent knock to cement his place at the top of the order, but he failed again, bowled by Stokes for five, leaving a delivery that went backwards.
Travis Head was joined by Marnus Labuschagne but he only made eight, caught by Root in Tongue’s slips.
Head was in good touch before being bowled on 46 by a Carse delivery that beat the outside edge, and when Khawaja (0) and Alex Carey (4) departed in the space of nine balls, the momentum was back with England.
After reaching lunch at 98-6, Green (19) became the seventh wicket to fall with a score of 119, edging a rising ball from Stokes to Harry Brook at slip.
Carse bagged Neser and Starc without scoring, and Richardson fell to Stokes with the last four wickets falling for 13 runs, leaving Steve Smith unbeaten on 24.
