Sir Alastair Cook says the bowler-friendly MCG pitch on day one of the Boxing Day Ashes Test made for an “unfair contest”.
England rolled Australia for 152 in 42.5 overs after winning the toss only to be torpedoed for 110 inside 30 overs in reply as 20 wickets fell on a single day of an Ashes Test for the first time since 1950.
Speaking to TNT Sports, former England captain Sir Alastair Cook said of the surface, which had 10mm of grass on it: “This is not a great Test wicket.
“Unless this flattens out on days two, three and four, if we get there, then that was too heavily weighted in the bowlers’ favour.
“The bowlers didn’t have to work that hard for wickets.
“Could both sides have batted slightly better? Yes, but if you put the ball in the right area, it was going to nip either way. It was a bit of an unfair contest.”
Did the MCG pitch do too much?
Scott Boland registered figures of 3-30 from nine overs on his home ground, dismissing Jamie Smith, Will Jacks and Harry Brook and looking a constant threat throughout.
Cook added: “I was watching Boland, in particular, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t know how you face that’.
Australia’s Scott Boland (left) celebrates the wicket of England’s Harry Brook on a wild Boing Day in Melbourne
Stuart Broad was also critical of the MCG surface
“To left-handers he was running in from around the wicket attacking the stumps, some were nipping miles one way, some nipping miles the other. I also don’t know where you go as a right-hander.
“The pitch should flatten out tomorrow [Saturday] but the groundsman was telling me he doesn’t think it will.”
Cook’s fellow pundit and former England international Graeme Swann added on TNT Sports of the pitch: “It did a bit too much. It’s not dangerous, but it is a little bit unfair.”
England fast bowler Josh Tongue excelled in helpful conditions, registering his third Test five-for with his wicket of Steve Smith, bowled middle stump, one to savour.
In the tourists’ reply only Brook (41 off 34) and Gus Atkinson (28 off 35) passed 20.
Tongue said of the surface on TNT Sports: “The amount of grass that was on it, that lateral movement helped me massively, especially with my type of bowling.
“It is doing a bit out there with the new ball but I think how Brook batted out there gave it back to the Aussies. Gus at the end as well. It is about having a plan.”
Josh Tongue took five wickets for England, including Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne
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