Former England batter Kevin Pietersen was openly critical of the Melbourne Cricket Ground surface after a dramatic opening day of the Boxing Day Test, where all 20 wickets fell. Batting proved a stern test for both Australia and England, with the ball swinging in the air and jagging off the seam throughout the day. Even batters who managed to spend some time at the crease struggled to judge the bounce, leading to regular dismissals. The dominance of the bowlers was clear on the scoreboard as neither side produced a single half-century on a chaotic first day.
Pietersen weighed in on the debate around the Boxing Day Test pitch, drawing parallels with the criticism India often faces in similar situations and calling for the same level of scrutiny to be applied to Australia.
“India ALWAYS gets hammered when wickets fall like crazy on day 1 of a Test and so I hope that Australia gets the same scrutiny! Fair is fair!” Pietersen wrote on X.
“MCG pitch unfair for the batters”
Ex-England skipper Michael Vaughan said the record crowd of 94,199 at the MCG were “royally entertained” as they watched the most wickets to fall on the first day of an Ashes test since 1909 but slammed the pitch after both line-ups crumbled in spectacular fashion.
“We’re always looking for a fair balance between bat and ball. I thought that was unfair for the batters,” Vaughan told BBC.
“The pitch has done plenty. There’s been plenty of movement out there. It’s not been easy for both sides but I don’t like seeing a pitch do so much,” he added.
Earlier, after the third Test, Pietersen had taken aim at the Ben Stokes-led side following their 82-run defeat at the Adelaide Oval on Sunday, a result that handed Australia an unassailable 3–0 lead and retained the Ashes in the five-match series. Talking to X, Pietersen said the loss was hard to comprehend, especially with Australia missing key players like Josh Hazlewood and Steve Smith.
“No Hazlewood, hardly any Cummins, Smith, Lyon, etc, makes this defeat tough to understand. Seen more dismissals this morning that tell me all I need to know about an earlier tweet I wrote, saying that batters are not tuned into Test Cricket anymore,” Pietersen wrote.
