Somewhere else in the world, thered be hell on: Australia, England captains criticise MCG pitch after 2-day finish
Australia and England skippers slammed the MCG after the fourth Ashes Test ended inside two days. England defeated Australia by 4 wickets in the Boxing Day Test to avoid a whitewash.
New Delhi: Australia and England captains criticised the MCG pitch used for the fourth Ashes Test. The Boxing Day Test match ended just inside two days as the visitors chased the 175-run target to register their first win in Australia since January 2011.
20 wickets fall on the opening day of the fourth Test, with both teams collapsing quickly on a pitch which provided great assistance to the fast bowlers. 16 wickets tumbled on the second day as the match concluded in just two days. After the game, Smith slammed the pitch on offer, expressing his dissatisfaction.
The Australia stand-in skipper said that 36 wickets falling in just two days is probably too much, and the surface did a little more than the curator would have expected.
"Yeah, I think a little bit too much. It was tricky, no one could really get in. I think when you see 36 wickets across two days, that’s probably too much. So probably it did a little bit more than they (the curators) would have wanted. Maybe if we drop it (the grass) down to 8mm, it’d be about right, potentially," Smith said.
He further added that an additional 50–60 runs across both innings could have kept the hosts in the match and also credited England for their aggressive intent.
'I'm pretty sure if that was somewhere else in the world, there'd be hell on': Ben Stokes
England skipper Ben Stokes also slammed the MCG pitch, saying that no one don't wants a match finishing in less than two days, but they can't change after the start of the match, and have to play on it.
"But I'm pretty sure if that was somewhere else in the world, there'd be hell on. Not the best thing for games that should be played over five days. But we played a type of cricket that ended up getting the job done," Stokes said.
The 20 wickets that fell on the opening day at the MCG were the most on Australian soil since 22 wickets fell at the Adelaide Oval in 1951. The surface has remained a major talking point among fans and pundits during the course of the match. Meanwhile, England finally registered a Test win in Australia after 14 years, avoiding a whitewash.