England finally brought an end to their 4-match losing streak in Test cricket by recording a 4-wicket win over Australia in Melbourne. Ben Stokes & Co. ensured that their arch-rivals didn't complete a clean sweep over them as they chased down the 175-run target rather comfortably on the second day.
The Boxing Day Test was heavily dominated by the bowlers as a total of 36 wickets fell during the two days of play. No batter was able to score a half-century and both the teams failed to post a total of above 200 runs. The likes of Josh Tongue, Brydon Carse, Michael Neser and Scott Boland dominated the most on the lively Melbourne pitch.
Changes on the points table
The defeat saw Australia's perfect record in the ongoing World Test Championship (WTC) cycle come to an end. Before this match, they had won all of the six games they had played, but they now have a loss under their name as well. On the other hand, England's victory didn't change their ranking on the points table as they remain on the 7th place with a PCT of 35.19.
| Pos | Team | Played | Won | Lost | Draw | Ded | Points | PCT |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Australia | 7 | 6 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 72 | 85.71 |
| 2 | New Zealand | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 28 | 77.78 |
| 3 | South Africa | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 36 | 75.00 |
| 4 | Sri Lanka | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 16 | 66.67 |
| 5 | Pakistan | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 12 | 50.00 |
| 6 | India | 9 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 52 | 48.15 |
| 7 | England | 9 | 3 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 38 | 35.19 |
| 8 | Bangladesh | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 16.67 |
| 9 | West Indies | 8 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 4.17 |
How did the match unfold?
Meanwhile, the fourth Ashes proved to be quite a low-scoring match. After being invited to bat first by England, Australia got bundled out for just 152 runs. However, the visitors failed to take any advantage as they were bowled out for only 110 runs in their first innings. In reply, the Aussies once again struggled with the bat and got bundled out for 132 runs, setting up a target of 175 for the Three Lions.
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The visitors chased down the target rather comfortably on Day 2 thanks to valiant knocks from Zak Crawley (37), Ben Duckett (34) and Jacob Bethell (40). The Ashes stands at 3-1 following England's victory in Melbourne and the focus will now shift to the final match of the gruelling series that will be played in Sydney from January 4.