Ashes: MCG pitch under scanner, but England won’t mind after shock win

There’s no doubt that English media will now be trying various kinds of U-turns to justify Bazball all over again after the visitors managed to tame their arch rivals Down Under for the first time since 2011, that too in the Boxing Day Test. While the sensational win inside two days changes nothing on the ground for them, including England’s seventh position in the World Test Championship (WTC) table, credit must be given to Ben Stokes & Co. for picking up the pieces so soon after going down 3-0.

It must not have been an easy task for the England thinktank to keep their chin up after all the backlash — first for failing to find an answer to Aussie aggression and then for their drinking binge at Noosa between the second and third Tests. There are precedents of stronger teams going down the slippery slope in similar situations in an away series, and this is where a huge credit is due to the Stokes-McCullum combination.

However, the moot question in the wake of the result is: does it vindicate the Bazball philosophy for all seasons? The answer, having watched England follow the new template for almost four years now, is a no. Because it was not England's high-risk-high-reward approach to batting alone which won them the match in two days — the second such instance in this series after Perth, when the boot was on the other foot.

It was Josh Tongue, Player of the Match for his total figures of 7/89, who pushed the Aussies on to the backfoot on the first day of the match itself — which saw 20 wickets fall on a spicy and often dangerous wicket. All but one (a run-out) fell victim to pace, which will bring the MCG wicket — known to have something in it for both bowlers and batters (remember Nitish Reddy standing out with a counterattacking century last year) — under scrutiny.

England’s much maligned pace bowlers, led by a charged-up Brydon Carse and the wily Stokes, opened up the match when they packed up Australia for 132 runs to give themselves a fighting chance to pull one back in the series. This is where they showed character — especially young Jacob Bethell and the two openers — when they needed it most. Another 50-60 runs on the board for the Aussies, according to stand-in skipper Steve Smith, could have made the difference, but that’s how the cookie crumbles.

Smith, meanwhile, was candid enough to admit that the wicket did "a bit too much" and a bit of grass could have been shaved to ensure a more even contest. Surely he would have been in no mood to take this view had Australia gone 4-0 up in the series, but the wicket does raise questions about whether such two-day contests in the most hyped battle in the longer format is a good advertisement for the game.

It also rakes up the debate on what exactly is a good wicket. A little more than a month ago, the Eden Gardens wicket was torn apart when South Africa wrapped up a game inside three days. The scenario was a little different on that occasion, with South Africa turning the tables on India in a spin war, but the wicket was then panned as under-prepared.

Looking ahead, a win at Melbourne will do a world of good to the English team, which has been under heavy scrutiny. They have not only denied Australia their clean sweep, but set themselves up for a final fling in the Sydney Test. After all, a 3-2 scoreline will definitely sound better than a 4-0 or a 4-1.

Ashes Tests to end inside two days

1888: Lord’s

1888: The Oval

1888: Manchester

1890: The Oval

1921: Nottingham (excluding rest day)

2025: Perth

2025: Melbourne