Former England captain Alastair Cook was critical of the Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch after a frenetic opening day of the Boxing Day Test, which saw all 20 wickets fall. Australia and England struggled to settle at the crease as the ball swung noticeably through the air and seamed unpredictably off the pitch. Even well-set batters found it hard to trust the bounce, with constant movement forcing mistakes. The challenging conditions were reflected in the scorecard, with not a single batter managing to register a half-century across the day.
The MCG has long carried a reputation for offering a fair contest between bat and ball, but that balance was missing on Friday. Sent in to bat first, Australia were skittled out for 152, only to hit back hard with the ball and bowl England out for 110. With wickets falling at regular intervals and little respite for the batters, the match was left delicately poised after a chaotic opening day.
Cook offered a blunt assessment of the Melbourne surface after a dramatic opening day of the Boxing Day Test, suggesting the pitch failed to provide a fair contest and instead handed the bowlers a significant advantage.
“This is not a great Test wicket. Unless this flattens out on days two, three and four, if we get there, then that was too heavily weighted in the bowlers’ favour. The bowlers didn’t have to work that hard for wickets,” Cook said on TNT Sports.
Australia ended the day at 4 without loss, stretching their lead to 46 runs. Scott Boland was unbeaten on four, while Travis Head was yet to take guard, leaving the contest finely balanced heading into the next session.
Reflecting further on the wicket, Cook acknowledged the batters’ shortcomings but maintained that the conditions heavily favoured the bowlers, making run-scoring a stern challenge from the outset.
“Could both sides have batted slightly better? Yes, but if you put the ball in the right area, it was going to nip either way. It was a bit of an unfair contest,” he added.
“Don’t know how you face Boland”
The veteran English opener further highlighted just how difficult the conditions were for batters, pointing to Scott Boland’s relentless accuracy and movement off the pitch, while also expressing doubts over whether the surface would ease as the match progressed.
“I was watching Boland, in particular, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t know how you face that’. To left-handers he was running in from around the wicket attacking the stumps, some were nipping miles one way, some nipping miles the other. I also don’t know where you go as a right-hander. The pitch should flatten out tomorrow [Saturday] but the groundsman was telling me he doesn’t think it will,” he concluded on the matter.
