‘The Wicket is Offering Plenty’: Tongue Celebrates Five-Wicket Haul and Justifies England’s Batting Approach.

After collapsing to a total of 110 in the MCG, another revolution of the unceasing wheel of pain on the current Ashes tour, but for Josh Tongue day one of the Boxing Day Test was also a career high.

“Dreams come true,” he stated at the end of a action-packed day where a remarkable 20 wickets tumbled. “I’ve always wanted to play in the Ashes, if it’s home or away, and this is incredibly special. To be here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with all my family in as well is the icing on the cake.”

The state of the game is already stacked in Australia’s favour, with a 46-run first-innings lead and set to bat again on an alarmingly sporty pitch that may now settle on day two. But this was also Tongue’s day, the standout bowler with a personal best figures of 5/45 as England rolled Australia out for 152.

“It was a fantastic day of Test cricket on Boxing Day. Obviously coming to the ground here this morning, winning the toss and electing to bowl first, I thought we did a superb job as a collective attack.”

“Credit to them, they bowled well too. It’s a pitch which is doing quite a bit. But we’ve got to just come back tomorrow and repeat the performance.”

“I feel like if you put the ball in the right areas, which I felt like we did today as a group, you’re going to reap the benefits. It feels like that fuller length definitely helped, it helped me, definitely, with my natural angle.”

Justifying the Strategy

There may be a sense of dissonance for English fans in hearing Tongue repeated the playbook chapter headings about applying scoreboard pressure, playing an positive style of cricket and so on, something England did here by just about crawling past three figures at 3.7 runs an over. “That’s our brand of cricket. We play a very positive brand of cricket. We try and put pressure on the opposition and take it back to them.”

Tongue said there was no real direction on how England would bat on this surface, perhaps inadvisably given they were dismissed inside 30 overs. “We didn’t have an extensive discussion. I feel like we want to put pressure back on to the opposition, so whoever walks out thinks it’s the appropriate moment to obviously shift a gear or put them on the back foot.

“I think, knowing where you’re scoring options are is vitally important on this sort of wicket when the ball is doing a bit more. But yeah, I thought Harry Brook batted exceptionally well. The runs that he got were absolutely vital in obviously a small first innings total.”

Dismissing a Legend

Tongue’s spell also contained the latest stage in a run of consistent performances against the Australian captain, but he dismissed suggestions he might “hold an advantage” over him.

“No, he’s clearly a world-class batter. I’ve grown up watching him, and obviously getting him out is a huge thrill. But yeah, to me, it’s just another batter that I want to try and get out. It doesn’t really matter who he is. My primary objective is to get the batter out at the other end. So yeah, it’s obviously a nice feeling.”

A View from the Other End

There was a more ominous take at stumps from Michael Neser, a leading wicket-taker in England’s reply and a career-long student of the Melbourne pitch.

“We know it can deteriorate quickly on day one and day two, then when the wicket hardens up and dries out it can be good for batting. So I don’t want to have the preconceptions tomorrow that the pitch is going to do a lot. It could be a different proposition in the second innings.”

Australia will begin day two with 10 wickets in hand and their aggressive left-hander at the crease, alongside surely one of the most popular nightwatchmen in Test history, the local boy Scott Boland. Asked if he felt the grassy pitch did excessive amounts on day one of a Test, Neser had a brief reply. “I’m a bowler, so no”.