Josh Tongue made history on Friday by becoming the first England bowler this century to take a five-wicket haul in Men’s Tests at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Tongue’s figures of 5-45 helped dismiss Australia
for 152 in their first innings of the Boxing Day Test. Despite being down 3-0 in the series, Tongue’s performance gave England hope by breaking a 27-year drought; the last time an England bowler had taken five wickets at the MCG was when Darren Gough and Dean Headley achieved the feat in 1998.
Tongue’s spell was his most successful in Test cricket, surpassing his previous best of 5/66 against Ireland at Lord’s in 2023. He will have a chance for a hat-trick during Australia’s second innings after claiming the wickets of Scott Boland (0) and Michael Neser (35) with the final two balls of Australia’s first innings.
Australia struggled against the visitors’ impressive bowling after opting to bat first. Tongue took three of the top four wickets as Australia lost four batsmen in the morning session. Khawaja was dismissed in the fourth over after lunch following a successful review. Carey was unable to rescue his team, falling to a leg-slip trap. Cameron Green was run out just when batting seemed to be easier. Michael Neser provided a valuable contribution with 35 runs, including seven fours, but Tongue returned to complete his third Test five-wicket haul and wrap up Australia’s innings.
A massive crowd of 93,442 people has already been confirmed at the MCG, with the number expected to grow further.
