Test Match Special - Mayhem in Melbourne on bonkers Boxing Day

Episode Date: December 26, 2025

Simon Mann is joined by Michael Vaughan, Jonathan Agnew, Glenn McGrath and Andy Zaltzman to review an incredible opening day of the 4th Test. Plus reaction from England’s Josh Tongue who took 5/45 and Australia fast bowler Scott Boland who had figures of 3/30 and opened the batting!

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from BBC Radio 5 Live. Tung Bowls and he's forward. He's caught in second slip. He'll be on a hat trick in the second innings. Brooke has taken the catch. Tongue takes five for 45. They're all out for 152. Green balls.

Oh, he's bowled him. It's all over. And England have been bowled out for 110. And Australia have a first inning's lead of 42. Well, We've had a record crowd at the MCG today and a wild day. 20 wickets going down for 266. 46 runs ahead, Australia, with all 10 wickets in hand.

Bold out for 152 in 45.2 in 45. With Josh Tung, taking 5 for 45. Michael Nisa coming in at number 8 and back into the side, the leading score for Australia with 35. Could England take advantage? No, they were 16 for 4. Harry Bryant came down the pitch first ball to try and smash Mitchell Stark over extra cover. He actually was England's leading scorer with 41,

but Australia gradually worked their way through England's batting. There was some late resistance from Gus Atkinson that got England up to 110. There's a last wicket partnership of 19, which is the second highest in England's inning. So plenty to talk about in this podcast, plenty to talk about over the next half an hour or so and we'll get some reaction from both sides. Michael Vaughn is here, Jonathan Agnew is here, and Glenn McGrath is here. Let's start with you, Michael.

20 wickets in the day. Whose fault is that? Is it the batters? Is it the curator's fault? Is there too much in the pitch? What do you think? The pitch has done plenty. There's been plenty of movement out there.

There's been, you know, some good bowling. There's been some indifferent batting. You know, there's been some mistakes. but, you know, I think the kind of, the end summarisation of a day is this crowd will have gone, I'm royally entertained, but this isn't test cricket, you know, on this kind of pitch. You know, I think it's done too much, but also I question the technical side of a lot of the players.

You know, I think we're looking at an England side that as soon as it does anything, that's the third time in the series that they've been bowled out in under 35 hours. You can't tell me that Perth and now here at the G, you should be getting bowled out in under 35 overs. And, you know, that's down to the application and the technical side of some of the players but have I been entertained

I have I've enjoyed it quite a lot actually because it's been kind of non-stop it's moving at fast pace but do I like to see test match cricket played like this here at Melbourne in front of 90,000 people no I think the pitch is offered a little bit too much but there's also

a question mark over the modern player the modern era that when the ball does something I think the technical side of what we've I guess been accustomed to for many many generations that side has kind of gone from, you know, both sets of players. You know, it's not just the England side. Australia will barred out for 152 as well,

with the highest score coming from Michael Nees. So it's not been easy for both sides, but I don't like to see a pitch do so much. I think we're always looking for a fair balance between bat and ball. I thought that was a little bit unfair for the batters today. It's a great for the spectators that turned up today, but what about the spectators, you know, who might be turning up on the third day,

got tickets to the third day, say, and come a long way and paid a lot of money to watch the test. Simon, I look at Cricket Australia. They had a two-day game in Perth, lost a huge amount of money. I joked on commentary that cricket Australia might be busking down the South Bank in the next few days because they need some cash and we should be speaking about that. It's been, what, 30,000 England supporters travel over and we're in great danger.

This test match could be finished inside two days. I think the pitch might flatten out and batting you would hope would get a little bit easier. But we all love test cricket and we don't mind when the game goes to days three or days four when it's kind of an even contest but I think that 20 wickets have fallen on a first I don't even know how many overs we've had we haven't had that level

Well Australia batty of a 45.2 England for 29.5 We're looking at what 75 overs of play not even a full day's play and we've had 20 wickets and yeah it's great humour that you've got Travis Head opening the batting twice on boxing day

and Scott Ball and the local here of the evasion he got there for surviving that last ever again great drama great entertainment but that's not 10 test cricket for me what we've seen to date. It was a day where there was some

poor batting, some really good bowling, pitch doing too much and I guess we're in an area where we're constantly seeing test matches like this where the pitch does a little bit whether it's spin, whether it's seam and batsers can't cope with that movement, whether it is through the spinning

ball or whether it is through the seeming ball it's a common trend across the modern game that as soon as the ball does something, teams get bowled out quite quickly. How did you say it, John? Well, it felt a bit end of series to me. You know, would either team have batted quite as badly if it had been 1-1 or, you know, going into this with everything still on the line?

I'd hope not. You'd hope that they'd actually knuckled down and fight harder. It just felt like what it is, 3-0. And, you know, the ball nipping around, as Michael was saying. And it's not the application that they should have been. I mean, it did do a fair amount. I think it was fair. But, I mean, it's not a minefield.

it just nipped. I thought Australia, I mean, I've just got this horrible feeling in my water, whether Australia's going to have a good day tomorrow because they've got the bowlers. They've got the bowlers who bowl the right length and relentlessly.

We've talked about it a lot in this series, haven't we? You just look at England's bowlers. Atkinson does that. The carts will run up and bang it in again. Tung, tongue decent. But I mean, they were relentless, really. I thought Jai Richardson was, he was sort of searching a bit,

so they took him out and brought Nisa back again. But if you wanted to have an attack that's available for Australia for a pitch like that then they ran in a bolt on it today I don't know I mean England Bethel you know what you say about that out he comes is his fourth first class match of the year out he goes in front of

94,000 and got a decent ball isn't it early on you can you're allowed to you're allowed to nick that Root is interesting 15 ball duck you don't often see that from Joe Root Harry Brooks's first shot I just really quite speechless actually the charge down the pitch yeah an absolute wild swipe

I mean the six and he's it at Adelaide he hit a beautiful six over extra cover by being in the right position I mean it's an incredibly talented shot to play but he played it by giving himself the chance to play it and the ball's in the right place for it and all that stuff but it was a controlled shot it was a beautiful

stroke the first ball was not a beautiful stroke if it got out to that I don't know what we'd have been saying really I mean is the vice captain yeah you can't come out and play a shot like that first ball can no I mean in a funny kind of way the basball way probably was required on this kind of surface.

Yes, to be positive. Yeah, I think I look at Harry and he's got genius tendencies. He plays shots that not many can play. But, you know, I thought he was just getting into his groove, actually. The field was spreading. He started to play nice, and he gets one from Scotty Bowling. It's a good ball nips back. You know, I look at Jacob Bethlehurst, and I look at a young kid.

He's played four first-class matches. I didn't going to throw him out at number three on that pitch against Mitchell's Stark, Scott Ball. I just think you're giving kids no chance. You know, he's never got a first-class sundry, and you're asking him. him to deliver on this stage in front of 90,000 when his team of 3-0 down. If you're going to put him in the side, just for two games, all move up one and let Jacob come in at number six.

Yeah, absolutely. Give him a chance. Give him a chance to at least come in when you'd hope the ball. That's kind of we assumed would happen, actually. Well, I think I started my test career in the middle. You know, I was at number four. I had times in Sri Lanka, I think, at six or seven. Against the West Indies at home, I think I was six or seven.

You know, to throw a kid that's played no cricket at number three. Yeah, I agree. in an Ashes series against this quality. I'd just give him no chance. It's just unfair on the young player. Let's bring Glenn in. So Glenn, how many test wickets would you have got if you bowled on a surface like that in every match?

You took 500 nod, but... Well, you wouldn't mind it. You know, just on a length, nipping it around. And I watched England bowl in that first session, and they bowled some good deliveries, but it wasn't consistently on that spot ball after ball. And I was just curious to see how Australia would go because I thought they'd be a lot more consistently in that right area.

And I think the score probably tells the story between the two bowling attacks. So, yeah, this pitch has got far too much grass on it. I was saying 7 mil, but it's actually 10 mil. I thought 7 probably would have been better. But I think he was more concerned about what's happening day 3, 4 and 5. We may not even get there. So, yeah, you know, test cricket. That pitch has got too much life in it for test cricket.

But, yeah, I thought the way Brooke came out, I was happy with the way he came out. I know that first ball looked terrible, but the ball was not where he wanted it, and you still swing through and you know where near it. So it was just one of those things. But, yeah, the Australians bold well, it's hard to apply yourself on a pitch that's doing plenty

because if you're looking to defend, one's got your name on it, you've got to find that balance between somehow keeping balls out while still looking to score. So it's tough. People might be joining us, or they might look at the scorecard or whatever on the BBC Sport website and they say, oh no, England again, 110 or like.

But actually, is there a case for saying that actually Australia batted more poorly than England today? Actually, look at some of the dismissals from Australia. They were a bit loose. And actually, England were bowled out by some really good bowling from Australia today. Well, I look at the pitch. You know, I always kind of think, oh, what would par be? You know, if you played really well, I think par on a pitch like today would be 250. You know, you'd have to play really well.

Oh, you'd take 250 on that pitch. Yeah, but to get a 250, one player probably needs to get you in 80. Now, really dig in and hang in there, and a couple of partnership gets you to that number. So we're not talking about a pitch of 400. You know, this is a tough batting surface, but it's just the application of some of the technical side. I look at someone like Jamie Smith. He plants that front foot down, and he can't go again. So I look at Clem McGrime particularly, or John, yourself, you'd be just looking at that.

Just to explain that. So he's left foot, he's got a nice wide basin, and that left foot just plants down. It pretty much plants down in the same. position every ball he's got an amazing eye and he's got good hands so he can use his hands in his eye to kind of time the ball but when the ball's on and around fourth stump he doesn't take that foot towards the line of that boy it just stays in that same position and then his hands go towards the line of the ball and if there's any nip you can see it and he doesn't bend that front knee so his front knee stays quite upright and straight so then you put your bat towards the ball and the line

the ball and it's back there's a gap between bat and pad it's what you get taught as a young kid when your bat and get that pattern pad close together. The only way you can do that, you head transfers towards the line of the ball, your foot follows, and guess what, you get that back close. And if it nits back, it hits you on the pad or it hits the inside edge

and you get away with it. His one and also is short leg. I think it's a great position for Jamie. Fantastic. Yeah, so you could get inside edge into the pad. I mean, you can see that wicket coming. So the technical side of Jamie Smith, it does need to improve.

Can you improve it? Yes, of course you can. You can improve your technique. Technically is something that needs repetition. And it's not during the series really because you need a long time to kind of just change that technical error. So there's one or two of the England players that you look at

and you think, well, technically they're a little bit short. But when you're up against quality and the pitch is doing something, you're 3-0 down in a series, your mental resolve can sometimes be very fragile. And you're looking at this England side, what's come through in terms of the noise, the pressure that they're under from us, you know, from many in the media, rightfully so.

They've played poorly. but what I don't want to see is them to fall in a heap you know there was a time today I was thinking you're going to fall in a heap here you know 16 for 4 this is this is really ugly and this team has got to be very very careful I know it's ugly the 3-0 down they've got to be very very careful

that it doesn't end really really badly and they've got to try and find some kind of mental resolve and just a little tweak or two with their techniques slightly if they can into the second ends they might have a chance but I just looked to a few players today and they look gone

you look at Ben Duckett Ben Duckett looks gone at the top of the order at the minute I think you're right about Australia's innings though I think England did have some luck getting a number of those wickets didn't they? I mean they did and that's why I fear a bit for tomorrow with another heavy roller on it

and a warmer day and so on and a bit more pace in the pitch maybe England's got a bowl well tomorrow I mean they've got absolutely bowl out of their skins but there's a lovely moment One of my favourite moments of the day was Carey's dismissal. It actually sums up the day a bit and the way that Australia did gift some of their wickets.

But it's one of those as a captain you'd love with that, Michael, wouldn't you? Deep square leg, now, come on, come to the leg slip. First ball, boom, hits it straight to legs. I mean, it's just one of those moments. I mean, that I thought rather summed up the way that Australia batted it. The weather all dismissal, I think that had square leg on the boundary. I'm looking, why is he back there? Midwicket, mid on.

They want to go full and straight to him. So they went full and straight, got it. bit straight, caught down the leg side, all right, it's a bit fortunate as a batter, but you could see there was a clear plan to get Jake weathered out, so there was some good... I really enjoy watching Josh Tongball. You know, I said before, Perth,

I staggered that, he wasn't playing in Perth, 18 wickets against India, in the summer, he's a wicket take of five against Australia in 2020, at Lord did only one test match. You know, every time I watch him, it's a right-hander in particular, I go, I wouldn't want to face him, because of that angle, and you have to play it because he kind of

falls away and he kind of pushes it in, but then he's got that ability to make the ball stand up and he turns you around as a batter particularly the right handers so I've been really pleased to see him bowl so as much as it's doom and gloom you know there are one or two things that you see Gus Atkinson come back into the side today

again he's a good bowler he really is high class he gets it up there wobbling it around so there's things like you see that are bad but you also see things and you go yeah there's areas where this team can clearly get better in the future but the technical side

of the batting and the mental side of the bat. And across the board in test match cricket in the last few years, as soon as it does anything, there's not many teams. There's not many batting lineups can play. Just curious there. With Josh Tong, you know, we saw in Adelaide, he actually bowled really well, picked up his fourth wicket with the old ball. And soon as new ball was taken, next over, he was off. Again, tonight, you know, he's on a hat-trick coming out. You know, why wouldn't you give him the one and only over tonight in this, in front of, you know, the Barmy Army, this crowd.

I reckon Ben Stokes missed, I'm not sure. Perhaps he didn't realize, perhaps he'd forgotten he was on Hattrick. I don't know. I would have let him keep bowling with a new ball in Adelaide, give him a chance to get five. He picked up five here, bowler pretty well, and a chance for a hat-trick. You're right in what you're saying, Sims. There were some tactics that were very good today. You've just highlighted, John, and then there was something.

Ben Stokes not bowling in the morning session, not bowling in the second in Adelaide until the game was a bit too late. look back this morning and thought after two overs of Briding Cass he was not getting it right it was that moment that you go come on Ben grab the ball out of his hand and take it yourself and we're in a low scoring game so that 152 you don't know it could have been a 120 or that if England had bowled even better

cast allowed them to get too many quick runs too early and there are certain little aspects throughout the whole series that I've looked down for this isn't right you know Ben's not bowling himself at the right time's often enough and he's when he's bowling is without any question England's best bowler you know he gets the ball nibbling either

way, balls at good length, and that happened again today, so absolutely right. When we saw Stokes captain in Pakistan when they won 3-0, a lot of that was down to his captaincy, busy, field was going all over the place. He's not being the same on this tour. He hasn't, and he hasn't

I think there have been mistakes made tactically, his bowling selection, lots of different things, but comparing the way he's in the field now with how he was on that series, it's very different. Do you think one of England's problems is they don't have opening bowlers here.

They don't have that settled opening attack, do they? Well, you're, you're two of bowlers. I mean, is there a difference between being a, you know, a third bowler, a fourth bowler and an opening bowler, Glenn? I think most bowlers want to be the opening bowler to get your first over. If there's a strong breeze, it's not ideal as an opening bowler be bowling up into it. But, you know, to get the new ball is what you want to do. So, yeah.

So I'm thinking of that, Briden Cartes, is he an open? bowling? No, he's not. I'll say that now. No, he's not. But Ben Stokes likes him for some reason. Always throws him the ball with the new ball. So, I don't know. So I would have had, you know, tongue opening the bowling this morning, because he just I think he just bowls good areas, really good areas on a pitch like this. CAST was always going to be a little bit too short. Yeah. Not as effective on a pitch like this. So, yeah, you've got to read the conditions, but I don't know. It's been a couple of time. It's interesting. I think Ben Stokes should have taken the new ball. And today would have been

another one. I just think he's so good that why are you the fourth seamer in an attack that when you bowl your best, you're England's best bowler? Is that the captain thing? Yeah, I think, look, I think he has a lot of empathy for his players and he tries to give his players the opportunity before him. He's like, I'm like last pick in the bowling department

in his eyes. He shouldn't be. And there should be someone saying to him. The coach should be saying to him, look, Penn, you're our best bowler. You take that new cherry. You know, you could get three or four quick ones with the way that you bowl. And by the way, if you don't bowl great with it, you're always good enough to come back with the older ball. A couple overs. get the other guys on.

So, yeah, I don't disagree with it, Forney. What do you say to that, Jonathan? No, I agree. Well, I think Stokes uses the new ball really well, doesn't he? He swings the ball, pitches, it out he bowls that full of length. I mean, I agree with Michael. I mean, Kars is not an opening bowler. He's a workhorse who runs in.

I mean, they like him because he bowls lots of overs. He just keeps running in, doesn't he? But, you know, there's not enough consistency there to be an opening bowler. And I don't think this wrong way, but there's not the same. skill it is not doing things with a ball that as a new ball bowler you use the new ball for if you get what I mean doesn't swing it

doesn't seem it he runs in bangs it halfway down that's that's not that's not skillful new ball bowling I'll get it both on tongue it's a tongue and Atkinson we've also got to remember

we had Broaden Anderson for many years so they kind of they ate up a chunk of of six or seven years that we just there you go Stuart and Jimmy will do the job and you know it's taken a little bit of time and we're still working out in English cricket

who are new ballers are so it's not easy when you've got a younger, fresher set of bowlers but you know when you're in conditions like this and you're up against the team last you've got to get it right you know you have that little little window of opportunity and you have to get it right and there's been too many times on the tour where they've not quite got it right with the new ball well Australia had got it right with a new ball

and they've got a champion new baller and Mitchell Stark and did it again okay his figure's two for 23 and the others took more but he got it go didn't he? The noise inside this stadium when Stark was bowling and taking out two of the first three wickets. Crawley was caught at slip for five and duck it

caught at mid on for two. What's it like as a bowler glen when you get deep into the series when you bowl a lot and is it easy to keep going? I mean, still running in, isn't he? Bowling it went fast. One ball three, a 146 KPAH

I think in his first over. He's been incredible, hasn't? He's played over 100 test matches, you know, he's not a spring chicken anymore, but he's still running in bowling nearly, you know, between 145, 150K an hour, which is exceptional. And I think he knows he's game better now. He's got better control

in that, yeah, in years gone by, he just hasn't had that control. He dragged one down leg side or he pushed him really wide, so he knows he's going really well. And the thing in England's favour today, there wasn't much swing. Could you imagine Mitchell Stark out there with swing as well?

He would have been absolutely dangerous. So I think he just knows his game so well, and he's had such a massive series. And, you know, you look at when England came here, you would have thought you would have been facing not only Stark, but Cummins, Hazelwood and Lion in every test. And, you know, we've only got Stark, and that was the way in two of those tests.

So, yeah, he's... Well, this is a frustration for me that, you know, England at 3-0 down. They've had an iffy day again. Australia haven't got their best team once again. Ben Stokes has won three out of four tosses. You know, so you've got to be honest and say England have had pretty much

everything go their way in terms of Selection. I know Geoffrey Archer's now gone back but on this pitch this attack was good enough with the amount of movement. You know Australia it's harsh and wrong to say that they're Australia's seconding them because they're all good cricketers but you know Australia

haven't had their best team out yet. And they've had one and two that have struggled in their line up as well. I mean Weatherall hasn't made a huge impact. Cameron Green hasn't had a great series for example. No, we're talking as if, almost as if the game's over.

Or the series has done. I know the series is done, Glenn. I know that, yeah. But we're talking almost as if the game is over. It's not over yet. But, okay, so what's the, push it forward. I mean, Australia are 46 runs ahead only,

and they've got all 10 wickets. They've got to bowl them out. They've got to get in there tomorrow and bowl them out and do so, well, by tea, I suppose. And then look to chase the runs down. I mean, this batting side could do that. Well, the pitch will still do a bit tomorrow.

They may, you know, try to get it into day three, whether this pitch is going to flatten out at all. I don't think. Of all the test matches, I think this is England's best chance. Oh, because they are a good, this series? They are a good chasing team. This pitch may get better. India last year, I was here. This pitch got better.

On day one when Sammy Conster's went out, they was doing all sorts. How does it get better? Just explain how it might get better. Well, you've got to remember we've had, how many rollers have we had today? We've had a heavy one. We've probably had three heavy rollers already. There'll be another one tomorrow morning. You know, if Australia get bowled out by, you know, an hour to go towards tomorrow night,

which is probably going to have to happen for England's twin, another heavy roller. And then on day three, you get another heavy roller. I'm counting the heavy rollers to try and flatten it out. But that's the only way that England can win. And the only way I say they've got hope is because this England side are a decent chasing side. They got close at the Adelaide Test Man. A lot of the Australia are clear favourites because, you know, they've got all the momentum of the series and they've got an,

incredible bowling attack but this England side can chase and if it's a 28300 chase that means the pitch has probably got a little bit better for batting tomorrow and then England will have to knuckle down someone will have to get 100 and of all the England sides that I've seen this England's side are very good at doing that but it's the mental scars and the mental damage over the course of the first three games and the first things here that there's a lot of the players that will be struggling mentally you know and doubting themselves and the one thing that you can't doubt is yourself when you're playing against this quality Australia bowling attack. So Australia favourites, but

don't rule England out yet, so. Okay. How do you see it, Glenn? Yeah, no, I agree with that. A lot depends on how things go tomorrow. England have to bowl well and put pressure back on this Australian batting line up. So, yeah, if Australia is still batting tomorrow evening with wickets in hand, it's not looking as good. But I think there's still plenty of life in this pitch. See what

The weather's slowly getting warmer, which will have an impact on top of the rollers. So, yeah, it could get to the stage where England are batting in the fourth innings in the best batting conditions of the match. So, yeah, the game's not over yet, but it's well on its way. Australia has 46 runs ahead.

The TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live. Bring more gear, carry more passengers, face greater challenge. Welcome to the world of Defender, with seating up to eight, ample cargo space, and legendary off-road capability. It's built to make the most of every adventure. Learn more at landrover.ca. This month in football, everything is up for grabs. The Premier League battles intensify, the Champions League reaches its crucial turning point, and the World Cup draw sets the stage for the biggest tournament on earth. Football Daily from the BBC brings you sharp analysis, instant reaction, expert insights,

and the stories driving the game on and off the pitch. Your essential football podcast delivered every day. Listen to Football Daily on Spotify, to Football Daily on BBC.com or wherever you get your podcasts. Let's hear from the England camp. Josh Tung has been speaking to Henry Moran. Well, Josh, how on earth you begin to one pick that day? It's obviously a crazy day of Test Match cricket, obviously winning and tossing bowling to bowl them out for one-fifth or whatever it was.

I thought as a bowling unit was outstanding. It was obviously a tricky pitch to bat on. They've obviously bowled well as well, but we come back tomorrow fighting. Talk to me about this surface because it does seem to be doing quite a lot. Yeah, I think there was about 10 mill of grass on it this morning. Obviously that green tinge going through the middle. And we just felt like that sort of one. me personally that full of length where I'd mostly get my wickets was going to benefit

me and the team and yeah we just tried to make sure we hit the pitch as hard as we could if we did get that full of length so we felt like if you got that just short of the length it just stuck in the pitch a tiny bit so just being bravely your length but still hitting the pitch harder match position it's barely time to digest it but you're not out of this England no not at all they lead by what 50 I we come back Refresh tonight, come back tomorrow morning, get a few quick polls and you never know we can get them three or four down in that first hour. Just what happened today. So I think we're just going to make sure we stick to what we did today and bring that tomorrow.

What was the chat between innings in terms of how things were going to be approached? Was there a sense of being slightly bolder and braver with the battings? It looked like that. Yeah, I think it depends on the individual how they see what fits in that situation. I thought how Brookie batted was very good on that pitch. Got valuable runs down there and obviously Gus at the end as well when I was batting with him. So I think just sort of judging when you're out there

and see where you're scoring options are and go from there. Some noise today. It's a record crowd for a cricket match at the MCG. I mean, this is, for you personally, five for dreams are made of this, aren't they? Oh, yeah, just being the Ashes series is amazing. Obviously, it's my first one last week in Adelaide, which I thought is incredible as well. I thought it's 55,000 and now at Boxing Day, 93,000, I think it was.

Take a fight, but yeah, dreams make it come true. What about the noise around the ground of playing in this sort of atmosphere? Because it's been, you know, a lot to take in for England on so many levels this tour. How do you compartmentalise your game when you've got that going on all around you? I don't really listen to it all. There's any odd comments and stuff, but that sort of thrives me to do better and sort of show the crowd. show the crowd and I feel like if you put in the hard work make sure you bowl the boards where you want to bowl and put pressure on the opposition you're going to get your

rewards and thankfully it happened today what about the build-up to this game has been a lot of noise around Ben spoke about protecting the team how's that been yeah it's been good we've been around everyone which are trying to fully focus on this game and making sure we get a win for England and then going on to Sydney because that is now got to be the goal because There's a lot of people out here. 30,000 England fans have made the journey. It's a huge commitment from them. Yeah, they've been amazing all series.

Been to every single game, supporting us all the way when things haven't gone our way. But yeah, credit to them. Staying here as well in Melbourne, supporting us today. So, yeah, we're doing it for the fans and everyone back at home. Well, bold today. Many thanks.

Cheers. That's Josh Tung, speaking to Henry Moran. Tung today with 5 for 45. 11.2 overs. And when he bowls on the second day, he will be on a hat trick. Now, I know the bowler had an excellent day. He was Scott Boland. He loves it on this ground. He picked up a three for 30. He's been speaking to Corbyn Middlemass and the ABC radio team. What a day for this man, Scott Boland. So first he did it with the ball as he ran through England yet again, three for 30 off his nine overs. And then he goes and puts the pads on and opens up as the night watchman in the second dig.

Scott, congratulations. How do you sum up, what on earth we saw today here at the G? Crazy day, yeah. I didn't expect to be open the batting of Travis Head at the G, but it's a nice one to tick off, I guess. Well, they always say about, you know, kids dream of playing on Boxing Day. Was this ever end of your consciousness at any stage

thinking I'm going to go out and open the batting on Boxing day? When I was running off, I knew I was open the batting. I thought, oh, geez, I couldn't get a king pair and all in the same day, could I? The Wicket, let's talk about the Wicket. Obviously, had a fair bit in a day one. Yeah, it did. I think probably the weather we've had the last three days has been 17 degrees. It's not really good for cricket wickets, as you'd know, Booth.

But I think being sent in, obviously we want more than 150, but we sort of fell over a little bit towards the end. But I think the way we started with the ball was spot on. I think we pitched it up. We got the ball in the area. Brooke tried to take us on and we set some different fields. Sometimes feels chaotic when he's batting because he can hit to, he tries to put the pressure so much on you that you sort of sometimes you lose what you're trying to do, but now four games into the series, we're sort of pretty clear on how we want a bowl

when guys are going like that. Yeah, it looks like it. Your plans are perfect. You're almost inside his head. He just wants to try something different to take you out of that comfort zone. So all the bowlers are just saying, right, that's what we're doing, Steve Smith or Patty Cummins,

they'll have a deep mid-off or a deep cover. Yeah, I think we sort of worked out maybe second innings from Perth at deep mid-off and deep points sort of keep him a little bit stiller. And then when the wicket's a little bit flattered, it's not as much bounce. We can get Kez up to the stumped. His hands are amazing up there.

So I even feel like when we're bowling seven or eight metres and trying to hit his belly button, Kez is going to catch it, so we've got full trust in him. Does it feel like a 20 wicket day to you from looking at that service to us from up in the commentary box? It looks decent. It looks like there was some same movement, but it didn't feel like a 20 wicket day.

Yeah, no, I don't know. We haven't seen 20 wickets too often here. We played shield games years ago We didn't get 20 minutes for the whole four days It's a nice change to that The thing for me, for me I'm a little bit different This has been a bowler But I see it go up

It went up a little bit today Is it indentations in the pitch? No, it looks really good That's the one thing I went out to look at at Lange to see if there was any divvets Then maybe the odd sort of grassy divot Not like a full indentation of the pitch So I think when you see those indentations in the pitch

You know it's going to get harder to bat as the game goes on, but there's not really too many of them. Was it two-paced? I only face seven balls, but... Magnifices of seven balls, by the way. If you ever had a reception like that, I don't know you took six for seven here one day, but it felt like it was even more raucous tonight.

Oh, yeah. Like, as I said before, me and Hetty were walking at the race, and he's like, how good's this? I'm atopening his best mates at the G, so pretty special. And get down tomorrow morning, get here early and say Smithy, Martinus, I'm opening. I want throw-downs from different for an hour. You get first used to the net.

doing that. Scott, we'll let you get out of the cold. Appreciate it, Tom. Thanks, no, Mike. Thanks, Scott. That's Scott Boland talking to the ABC radio team. He had another remarkable day here at the MCG. And I'll be back to continuing his opening partnership with Travis Head tomorrow morning. I bet he didn't expect to be hearing that at the start of the day's play. Okay, Andy Zaltzman is with me for the statistical roundup of the day.

And as ever in this series, there's plenty to talk about. What's mainly caught your eye today, Zaltz? Well, I don't think anyone expected after the first day in Perth that we'd see even more wickets on the first day of one of the subsequent tests, but 20 wickets on the first day. The most on the first day of an Ashes test since 1909. I make it when there was a 20 wicket first day and the joint most then since 1902,

and there were 25 wickets on the first day on this ground. It's only the ninth test in history, and there have been over 2,600 tests in which the third innings began on day one, just the second since 1951 and the fourth since 1902. The two first innings combined, it's the seventh shortest combined first innings in test history. So that puts in, in context of Australia, all out in 45.2 overs, England, 29.5 overs. Before we get on to England's with the bat, Australia's innings, 45.2,

the joint third shortest innings against England in this country in the last 70 years, exactly the same number of overs as they faced in Perth at the start of this series, and it was their fourth shortest first innings at the MCG since 1902. Josh Tung, his third five-wicket haul in just eight tests, you've now taken 41 wickets in his first eight test.

That's the most by an England player in the first eight tests of a career in men's test cricket since Ken Higgs in the 1960s, even better than Ian Bothsom's pyrotechnic start to his career in the late 1970s. He's taken 15 wickets in his three ashes tests. But then it all went wrong after that. It was the lowest score, 110 all out, and the shortest innings since England was skittled here four years ago for 68 in under 28. eight overs. So that's the lowest and shortest innings of the Basball era. They were four down for 16, which is the ninth worst score for England at the fall of their fourth

week in any test innings, and their worst of this millennium. They're worst against Australia since 1904. They had eight single-figure stands. The 10th wicket put on a heroic 19 to the extent where I actually pointed out when they'd reached double figures. They brought up the 10 partnership. It's only the third time against Australia. They've had eight single-figure partnerships in one innings since 1888. One was at Hobart in the fourth innings as they capitulate at the end of the last tour.

And the other was the first innings of Don Bradman's last test in 1948. It's England's 14th shortest innings ever in test at 29.5 overs. It's the best of their last two innings in Melbourne. So let's cling to that. Scott Boland at one point, having taken six for seven in four overs in the second innings of his debut four years, ago then took three wickets in his first six overs who had nine wickets in his last ten overs against England on this ground at one point was England's sixth shortest first innings ever but here's something to cling to Simon the last two occasions

England had been bowled out in under 30 overs in their first innings they've won the test both times both in 2019 one against Ireland at lords and they were skittled on the first morning and the Ben Stokes headingly miracle match they were all out for 67 in under 30 overs in that one. So they've got a very good record in recent years when they've been skittled in under 30 overs in the first innings. England's top four

totaled eight five for Crawley, two for Duckett, one for Bethel and a second first innings duck of the series for Root. That eight runs is the fourth worst performance by an England top four in test history

in their second worst since 1904 and the early damage by Mitchell Stark now 24 wickets in the series one more will be the most in a series of his test career and it's the third time in the four tests played

that he's taken two or more wickets in his opening spell of the first innings of the test so he has had a major series he's been magnificent Mitchell Stark thanks very much Andy

you can watch clips on the BBC Sport website and app now with full highlights on BBC iPlayer also on eye player look out for the TMS Ashes debrief with Alex Hartley. For all our content on BBC Sounds, just search Ashes. We're back on air at 11 p.m. tonight. You're listening to the TMS podcast from BBC Radio 5 Live.

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