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England captain Ben Stokes felt that the track in Melbourne was "not ideal" after the Boxing Day Test came to a conclusion within just two days. Though the Three Lions won the match by four wickets and ended an almost 15-year wait for a Test victory on Australian soil, Stokes believes that the pitch would have caused an uproar anywhere else in the world.
"Being brutally honest, that's not really what you want. Boxing Day Test match. You don't want a game finishing in less than two days. Not ideal. But you can't change it once you start the game and you've just got to play what's in front of you," Stokes said after the match.
"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," he added.
Stokes' praise for Tongue and Bethell
On the other hand, Stokes credited both Josh Tongue and Jacob Bethell for England's stunning win in Boxing Day Test. While Tongue was the side's pick of the bowlers and clinched seven wickets, Bethell played an important knock of 40 runs as they chased down the target of 175.
"Josh Tongue, what an occasion for him. Five-for in front of a huge crowd, and Bethell a crucial knock in tricky conditions. The partnerships we were able to build were exceptional," Stokes said at the post-match ceremony.
Bowlers totally dominate in Melbourne
The surface at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) proved to be nothing short of a nightmare for the batters. A total of 20 wickets fell on the first day and that was followed by 16 wickets falling on the second day. No batter was able to score a half-century and both the teams failed to post a total of over 200 runs during the low-scoring match. This was also just the fourth instance that a Test match in Australia came to a conclusion within two days.
Meanwhile, England very much needed the victory in Melbourne as not only was this their first Test win in Australia since 2011, but because it also means that the Baggy Greens won't be able to complete a clean sweep over them. It will also act as a massive confidence booster for them heading into the fifth Test that will be played in Sydney from January 4.
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