‘The Wicket is Offering Plenty’: Tongue Revels in Five-Fer and Defends England’s Batting Approach.

England may have been bowled out for 110 in Melbourne, another revolution of the unceasing wheel of pain on this Ashes campaign, but for the young seamer day one of the Boxing Day Test was also a personal milestone.

“Dreams come true,” he stated at the end of a hectic day where a remarkable 20 wickets tumbled. “I’ve always wanted to play in the Ashes, whether at home or abroad, and this obviously feels very 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 leaning towards Australia, 46 runs ahead on first innings and set to bat again on an alarmingly sporty pitch that may now settle on day two. But this was undeniably Tongue’s moment, the star performer with a personal best figures of 5/45 as England rolled Australia out for 152.

“It was a fantastic day of Test cricket on this historic day. Arriving at the venue this morning, winning the toss and electing to bowl first, I thought we did a superb job as a collective attack.”

“And obviously they’ve bowled well as well. It’s a pitch which is doing quite a bit. But we’ve got to just come back tomorrow and do the same again.”

“I feel like if you bowl in good areas, which I felt like we did today as a group, you’re going to reap the benefits. It feels like that fuller line definitely helped, it helped me, for sure, with my angle.”

Defending the Approach

There may be something jarring for English fans in hearing Tongue echo the familiar mantras about applying scoreboard pressure, playing an positive style of cricket and so on, something England did here by scraping past 100 runs at a rate of 3.7 per over. “It’s how we play our cricket. We play a highly aggressive style of cricket. We try and force the issue and take it back to them.”

Tongue said there was no specific plan on how England would bat on this surface, arguably unwisely given they were bowled out in less than 30 overs. “There wasn’t really a big chat at all. I feel like we want to immediately put the bowlers under pressure, so whoever walks out thinks it’s the right time to accelerate or put them on the back foot.

“I think, identifying scoring areas is obviously crucial on this sort of wicket when the ball is moving around. But yeah, I thought Brookie batted really well. The runs that he got were obviously crucial in obviously a small first innings total.”

Claiming a Prized Scalp

Tongue’s spell also contained the most recent instance in a run of consistent performances against Steve Smith, but he dismissed suggestions he might “have the wood” over him.

“No, he’s clearly a world-class batter. I watched him as a kid, and dismissing him is a huge thrill. But yeah, to me, it’s just another batter that I want to try and get out. His reputation doesn't matter. 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 an Australian bowler, a leading wicket-taker in England’s reply and a career-long student of the MCG surface.

“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 story second innings.”

Australia will resume on day two with all wickets intact 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 too much on day one of a Test, Neser had a concise answer. “As a bowler, I'd say no”.