The world famous Boxing Day Test awaits England’s beaten cricketers and we are about to discover whether the mighty coliseum that is the Melbourne Cricket Ground becomes their arena of the unwell; whether pride can be salvaged or it is just another stepping stone for Australia in their pursuit of an Ashes whitewash.
Last year a record 373,691 spectators passed through the turnstiles across five days as Australia overcame India in a slow-burn thriller. This fourth Ashes Test was tipped to top that remarkable figure potentially but that will hinge on it similarly going the distance. It also needs the locals to be energised still by a series that has already been won by their team – even if simply beating the old enemy is usually enough.
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England lasted just seven sessions here four years ago, the match settled before lunch on day three when Scott Boland ran through them on debut like a bull down the streets of Pamplona. The statue that Mark Howard called for on commentary is yet to materialise but memories of England’s gory innings defeat come flooding back when walking through Yarra Park to the ground.
That was also a rare live Boxing Day Ashes Test, albeit only because the pandemic forced the series to start later. This time England are 3-0 down after seeing their challenge disintegrate in just 11 days and they are playing for a combination of pride, World Test Championship points and, as Rob Key and Brendon McCullum have both admitted in recent days, potentially jobs.
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Going by some of their post-match comments after the 82-run win in Adelaide, Australia’s hunger for 5-0 is real. Achieving this would say even more about their resilience. Having battled with high-profile absentees throughout the series, Pat Cummins is now out for the remainder – back rested after that remarkable one-Test cameo – and likewise Nathan Lyon with a torn hamstring.
For England the test of resilience will chiefly be between the ears and may be instructive as to whether McCullum’s “horse-whispering” is still registering with his charges. Key, the team director, still believes in his man, calling him a “bloody good coach” on Tuesday. Although having stuck everything on him last year with a contract extension, he could hardly say otherwise.
There may well be a change of personnel among them. Given they have shaken up the bowling attack already in this series, Key slightly gave the game away here. Without naming names, but while holding his hands up to the myriad things that have gone wrong so far on the trip, he admitted to wondering whether changes to the side should have come sooner.
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The sight of Ollie Pope doing laps of the vast MCG outfield on Tuesday while others were working in the nets pointed to a tap on the shoulder here, his tour having slightly unravelled since a deceptively calm 46 on the opening day in Perth. Though a willing conscript to the team’s attacking mantra, the 27-year-old seems the obvious one to make way from a faltering top three that has in turn heaped pressure on the middle order.
Unless England bring in an extra bowler – not their style so far, despite what this asks of Ben Stokes, physically – this points to a return for Jacob Bethell, a year on from a promising debut in New Zealand but with little form to speak of since. It represents a huge task for a 22-year-old still awaiting his maiden first-class century, even before factoring in a 90,000-strong crowd.
“He is going to be a very good player,” said Key, without confirming Bethell’s spot. “He is a very good player. And I have no issue with him being able to go out and play a match-winning innings in an Ashes Test for us, if that’s Boxing Day. I wouldn’t be worried about that. Do I think it’d be easy? No.”
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England should have invested in Bethell during the Test summer by making the switch with Pope sooner. As it is, despite making his first senior hundred in a one-day international against South Africa, his season was largely a wasted one. Key made a passing remark about a lack of opportunities at Warwickshire, which, given he released the left-hander for just one County Championship game, may trigger a fair bit of chuntering at Edgbaston.
Either way, it would represent another punt by a regime with a gambler’s streak that has started to see fewer and fewer payouts. No Cummins is unlikely to mean any let-up, not least with Boland back on his home ground, the impossibly limber Mitchell Starc set to push through once more, and the fast outswing of Jhye Richardson given a chance to join them.
With McCullum frustrated that England were so cautious against Lyon during the first innings in Adelaide, only bringing out the sweep in the second, one area to exploit could be his replacement. Todd Murphy, another off-spinner, was attacked by them during the 2023 Ashes – even if that series seems a long time ago now.
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