England may have been bowled out for 110 in Melbourne, another revolution from the relentless wheel of pain that is the current Ashes tour, but for Josh Tongue day one of the fourth Tests was also a career highlight.
“Dreams do come true,” said Tongue at the end of the day as 20 wickets fell, five of them to him in Australia’s first innings. “I’ve always wanted to play in the Ashes, whether it’s home or away, and this obviously feels very special. The fact that I’m here at the MCG with my whole family too makes it even better.”
The match situation is already in Australia’s favour: 46 runs ahead in the first innings and batting again on an alarmingly sporting pitch, which may now settle down on day two. But this was also the day of Tongue, star performer with a career-best five for 45 as England rolled out Australia for 152.
“It was a great day of Test match cricket on Boxing Day. When we came to the ground here this morning and won the toss and put the Aussies into bat, I thought we did a great job as a bowling unit.
“And obviously they bowled well too. It’s a pitch that’s doing quite well. But we’ve just got to come back tomorrow and do the same thing again.”
“I feel like if you put the ball in the right areas, which I felt like we did today as a bowling unit, you’re going to get your rewards. I feel like that increased height definitely helped, it definitely helped me with my angle.”
It may come as something of a shock to English fans as Tongue repeats the Playbook chapter titles about putting pressure on their opponents, playing an attractive brand of cricket and so on, something England did here by almost crawling past three figures with 3.7 runs. “It’s the way we play cricket. We play a very positive brand of cricket. We try to 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 inadvisable as they were bowled out in less than 30 overs. “There hasn’t really been a big conversation. I feel like we want to put pressure on the opposition again, so whoever is running into the middle feels like this is the right time to clearly step up a gear or put pressure on them.
“I think it’s obviously crucial to know where your scoring options are on this type of wicket when the ball is doing a bit more. But yeah, I thought Brookie batted really well. The runs he scored were obviously crucial in a small total in the first innings.”
Tongue’s spell also marked the latest in a string of cross-format success against Steve Smith, but he laughed off suggestions he could ‘have the wood’ over the Australia captain.
“No, he’s obviously a great player. I grew up watching him, and obviously it’s a very special feeling to get him out. But yeah, for me it’s just another hitter that I want to try to get out. It doesn’t really matter who he is. My main goal is to get the hitter on the other end out. So yeah, obviously it’s a nice feeling.”
There was a more ominous view at the end of the match from Michael Neser, Australia’s leading wicket-taker in England’s reply, and a career-long student of the MCG surface.
“We know it can go very quickly on day one and day two, and if the wicket gets hard and dries out it can be fun to bat on. So I don’t want to have any preconceptions tomorrow that the pitch is going to do much. It could be a different story in the second innings.”
Australia will resume on day two with 10 wickets in hand and Travis Head at the crease, alongside surely one of the most popular nightwatchmen in Test history, local boy Scott Boland. When asked if he thought the green-hued wicket was doing too much on day one of a Test, Neser had a succinct answer. “I’m a bowler, so no.”
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