England’s historic victory in the Ashes series

Melbourne: England has created important history by defeating Australia by 4 wickets in the fourth test of the Ashes series. With this victory, England ended its 15-year long drought of winning Test matches on Australian soil. This match ended in just two days.

Before this, England’s last Test win came in Australia in Sydney in January 2011. After that, England remained winless in 18 consecutive Test matches, with Australia winning 16 and drawing 2. Held as the Boxing Day Test, the match was played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), becoming the second two-day Test of the series. Due to grass on the pitch, the bowlers dominated from the beginning of the match and a total of 36 wickets fell.

Won after 18 matches

Chasing the target of 175 runs in the fourth innings, England won by 4 wickets in 32.2 overs. This is the first time since 1962 that England has chased the target in the fourth innings in Australia. After 18 Test matches, England finally got victory on Australian soil.

Excellent bowling by Josh Tong

Australia was all out after scoring 152 runs in the first innings, while England scored 110 runs. This gave Australia a lead of 42 runs in the first innings. But England won the match by performing brilliantly in the second innings. English pacer Josh Tongue was declared the player of the match for taking 7 wickets in this match. Tong laid the foundation of England’s victory by dismissing top batsmen like Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne.

Although the series was already 3-0 to Australia, this win proved to be a morale booster for England. A record crowd turned out at the MCG to watch the thrilling encounter, with more than 1.86 lakh spectators in two days.

questions arising on the pitch

There is a lot of criticism of the pitch after the end of the match. Cricket fans are angry with the match ending in two days. 20 wickets fell on the first day itself, which was the highest in Australia since 1951 at Adelaide Oval. 16 wickets fell on the second day also. Former players have called it inappropriate for Test cricket. So far, only 13 days out of 20 have been played in the Ashes series. The final Test of the series will be played in Sydney from 4 to 8 January.