‘The Wicket is Offering Plenty’: Tongue Revels in Five-Fer and Justifies England’s Aggressive Mindset.

Despite being dismissed for a modest 110 in Melbourne, another chapter in a difficult tour on this Ashes campaign, but for the young seamer day one of the fourth Test was also a career high.

“It’s a dream come true,” he stated at the end of a action-packed day where a remarkable 20 wickets tumbled. “Playing in the Ashes has always been the goal, if it’s home or away, and this is incredibly special. Being here at the MCG with all my family in as well makes it even better.”

The match situation is already stacked in Australia’s favour, 46 runs ahead on first innings and batting again on an alarmingly sporty pitch that could potentially ease on day two. But this was undeniably Tongue’s moment, the standout bowler with a career best five for 45 as England dismissed Australia for 152.

“It’s been an amazing day of Test match cricket on this historic day. Arriving at the venue this morning, winning the toss and electing to bowl first, I thought we did a superb job as a bowling unit.”

“And obviously they’ve bowled well as well. 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 get your rewards. It feels like that fuller line definitely helped, it helped me, for sure, with my angle.”

Defending the Approach

There may be something jarring 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 3.7 runs an over. “It’s how we play our cricket. We play a very positive brand of cricket. We try and put pressure on the opposition and take it back to them.”

Tongue said there was no real direction on how England would bat on this surface, perhaps inadvisably given they were bowled out in less than 30 overs. “We didn’t have an extensive discussion. I feel like we want to put pressure back on to the opposition, 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 doing a bit more. But yeah, I thought Harry Brook batted really well. The runs that he got were absolutely vital in obviously a small first innings total.”

Dismissing a Legend

Tongue’s spell also contained the most recent instance in a run of cross-format success against Steve Smith, but he laughed off suggestions he might “have the wood” over him.

“No, he’s clearly a world-class batter. I watched him as a kid, 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 main goal is to get the batter out at the other end. So yeah, it’s obviously a nice feeling.”

The Bowler’s Perspective

There was a more cautious assessment at stumps from an Australian bowler, a key wicket taker in England’s reply and a long-time observer of the Melbourne pitch.

“We know it can move real fast on day one and day two, then when the wicket hardens up and dries out it can be nice to bat on. So I don’t want to assume tomorrow that the pitch is going to do a lot. It could be a different story in the second innings.”

Australia will resume on day two with 10 wickets in hand and Travis Head at the crease, alongside surely one of the most popular nightwatchmen in Test history, the homegrown talent Scott Boland. Asked if he felt the green-tinged wicket did excessive amounts on day one of a Test, Neser had a concise answer. “As a bowler, I'd say no”.