‘The Pitch is Doing Quite a Bit’: Tongue Celebrates Five-Fer and Justifies England’s Aggressive Mindset.

After collapsing to a total of 110 in Melbourne, another chapter in a difficult tour on the current Ashes tour, but for Josh Tongue day one of the fourth Test was also a personal milestone.

“It’s a dream come true,” he stated at the end of a hectic day where 20 wickets fell. “Playing in the Ashes has always been the goal, whether at home or abroad, and this is incredibly 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 stacked in Australia’s favour, with a 46-run first-innings lead and batting again on an alarmingly sporty pitch that could potentially ease on day two. But this was also Tongue’s day, the star performer with a career best five for 45 as England rolled Australia out for 152.

“It was a fantastic day of Test cricket on Boxing Day. Arriving at the venue this morning, winning the toss and electing to bowl first, I thought we did an amazing job as a bowling unit.”

“Credit to them, they bowled well too. It’s a pitch which is doing quite a bit. But we’ve got to just regroup tomorrow and repeat the performance.”

“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 was certainly beneficial, it helped me, for sure, with my angle.”

Defending the Approach

There may be a sense of dissonance for English fans in hearing Tongue repeated the playbook chapter headings about applying scoreboard pressure, playing an attractive brand 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 real direction on how England would bat on this surface, arguably unwisely given they were bowled out in less than 30 overs. “We didn’t have an extensive discussion. I feel like we want to immediately put the bowlers under pressure, so the next batter in thinks it’s the appropriate moment to obviously shift a gear or put them on the back foot.

“I think, identifying scoring areas is vitally important on this sort of wicket when the ball is moving around. But yeah, I thought Harry Brook batted really well. The runs that he got were obviously crucial in a low first-innings score.”

Dismissing a Legend

Tongue’s spell also contained the most recent instance in a run of cross-format success against Steve Smith, but he dismissed suggestions he might “hold an advantage” over him.

“No, he’s obviously an amazing player. I’ve grown up watching him, and obviously getting him out is a very special feeling. But yeah, to me, it’s just another batsman that I want to try and get out. It doesn’t really matter who he is. My primary objective is to get the batter out at the other end. So yeah, it’s a great feeling.”

A View from the Other End

There was a more ominous take at close of play from Michael Neser, a key wicket taker in England’s reply and a career-long student of the MCG surface.

“We know it can move real fast on day one and day two, then when the wicket compacts and loses moisture it can be good for batting. So I don’t want to have the preconceptions tomorrow that the pitch is going to offer as much. It could be a different proposition in the second innings.”

Australia will begin day two with all wickets intact and Travis Head at the crease, alongside surely one of the best-supported 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. “I’m a bowler, so no”.