New record made with 20 wickets falling on the first day of Boxing Day Test

Fourth match of Ashes series in Melbourne: Dominance of bowlers

The fourth Test of the ongoing Ashes series between England and Australia is being held at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. On the first day, a total of 20 wickets fell in the game, while both teams combined to score only 266 runs. Australia took a lead of 46 runs against visiting England. This day proved to be very beneficial for the fast bowlers.

20 wickets fell again after 124 years

With 20 batsmen dismissed on the first day’s play, this was a rare occurrence in an Ashes Test after 124 years. Earlier, in January 1902, a total of 25 wickets had fallen on the first day on the same ground. This is the fourth time that 20 or more wickets have fallen on a day of a Test match at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

Australia’s weak start

The Australian team, batting first, ended its innings on 152 runs. Michael Neser scored the maximum 35 runs in this innings, which came in 49 balls. English bowler Josh Tong performed brilliantly and took 5 wickets.

England’s disappointing performance

England’s first innings was also not special, where the entire team was reduced to 110 runs. Harry Brook played an inning of 41 runs, while Australia’s Michael Neser did wonders in bowling, taking 4 wickets for 45 runs in 10 overs. Apart from them, Scott Boland took 3 wickets, Mitchell Starc took 2 wickets and Cameron Green took 1 wicket. With this performance, Australia has taken an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Test series, due to which the Ashes have also been retained. The performance of both the teams shows that the bowlers will continue to dominate in the future.