25/12Result
4th Test, England tour of Australia and New Zealand at Melbourne, Dec 26-30 2017
Match drawn
Player of the Match
Alastair Cook
Alastair CookEngland
25/12Result
4th Test, England tour of Australia and New Zealand at Melbourne, Dec 26-30 2017
Match drawn
Player of the Match
Alastair Cook
Alastair CookEngland

END OF OVER:
119 | (wicket maiden) | AUS: 327/10

  • Josh Hazlewood1 (12b)
  • James Anderson29-11-61-3
  • Stuart Broad28-10-51-4

Australia have been kept to 327, a superb effort from England led by their two senior bowlers with Anderson and Broad sharing seven wickets. Remember, Australia were 102 for 0 at lunch yesterday and 243 for 3 at the start today. That's the fewest first innings overs England have bowled away from home since October 2016. Now it's over to their batting. Can they bed in on a sluggish pitch, will Australia get the reverse England found? Back in a few minutes

SRK: "There'll be two key aspects to England's batting: getting through the first spells from Hazlewood, Cummins, Bird, and then how they cope with Lyon and Marsh. Smith won't want his fast men having to bowl long, frequent spells in the brutal afternoon heat."

118.6
W
Anderson to Lyon, OUT, full, straight given...Lyon has reviewed but he's also walking off! Does swing quite late. Probably clipping leg stump at worse. Certainly no edge. Umpire's call on hitting leg stump. Taking a decent chunk of it

NM Lyon lbw b Anderson 0 (17m 10b 0x4 0x6) SR: 0.00

118.5
0
Anderson to Lyon, no run, attempted yorker, slips down the leg side as a swinging full toss
118.4
0
Anderson to Lyon, no run, at off stump, good length, solidly played into the covers
118.3
0
Anderson to Lyon, no run, a little too short, Lyon able to defend on the back foot
118.2
0
Anderson to Lyon, no run, gets across onto off stump and whips a length delivery into midwicket
118.1
0
Anderson to Lyon, no run, back of a length at off stump, defended to cover

Ryan M: "I can't help but wonder how different the narrative would be if Warner's century had come from, say, number 3 or 4, such that the openers had struggled on the pitch before he was seen batting on it, and then he and Smith together just looked like they were batting on a different pitch. We'd probably be talking about an awkward pitch that Warner transcended, rather than a road that the other batsmen failed to exploit." Don't think it's a road. Bit too slow for that, batsmen like some pace to work with. But it's flat. Warner's hundred could still be the difference

END OF OVER:
118 | (maiden) | AUS: 327/9

  • Josh Hazlewood1 (12b)
  • Nathan Lyon0 (4b)
  • Stuart Broad28-10-51-4
  • James Anderson28-10-61-2
117.6
0
Broad to Hazlewood, no run, round the wicket, full outside off, driven to the covers
117.5
0
Broad to Hazlewood, no run, full outside off, driven square towards point where Curran makes a good save
117.4
0
Broad to Hazlewood, no run, length ball at middle and leg, takes the pad and bobbles down by his feet

Scott: "Starc out for Bird might actually work out. It could be Jackson's type of wicket - bowl stump to stump, maybe move it around slightly, get a bit of variable bounce."

117.3
0
Broad to Hazlewood, no run, a flash and a miss outside off to a full delivery

Disco: "So, Australia have got over 300 on a that sticks and keeps low and England think they are on top. Cue England getting bowled for 150. Cummins, Hazlewood and Bird bowling on this pitch? Yummy yummy!" Not sure who thinks they are truly on top, but it's been a very good comeback

117.2
0
Broad to Hazlewood, no run, short of a length, pushed off the back foot
117.1
0
Broad to Hazlewood, no run, over the wicket, full outside off, driven to cover

Leo: "Lovely to see Broad getting back into it. One of my favourite players, has been painful to see him struggle recently as on his game he can be unplayable"

END OF OVER:
117 | 1 Run | AUS: 327/9

  • Josh Hazlewood1 (6b)
  • Nathan Lyon0 (4b)
  • James Anderson28-10-61-2
  • Stuart Broad27-9-51-4
116.6
1
Anderson to Hazlewood, 1 run, shovelled wide of mid-on so he'll keep the strike
116.5
0
Anderson to Hazlewood, no run, gets forward and drives back to the bowler

Graham : "We are now seeing the impact of poor and slow scoring by Bancroft and Khawaja." Well, not sure it's really down to that. Very few have found it easy to score freely

116.4
0
Anderson to Hazlewood, no run, beats the edge again with one angled across

Match Coverage

All Match News

  • MCG pitch rated poor by ICC

    Australian cricket has been embarrassed by the ICC rating the MCG drop-in pitch for the Boxing Day Ashes Test as "poor" following a dull draw in which only 24 wickets were taken over five days

  • 'It's a shame it's taken until now' - Root

    There was no victory for England, but Joe Root could at least take consolation from a side that had finally competed with Australia

  • Warner tames the beast within (almost)

    There was little in David Warner's career history to suggest he could bat Australia to a draw on a slow pitch - but he has long proved he is more than a six-hitting circus act

  • Relentless Smith finds a fresh ally

    Steven Smith gave praise for his partner on the fifth day at the MCG, as Mitchell Marsh slipped into a supporting role with a mature, unbeaten innings

  • Smith continues his prolific run

    Steven Smith hit yet another hundred - the 23rd of his Test career - to ensure a draw in the Boxing Day Test

23rd in quick time

110

Numer of innings Steven Smith has taken to hit 23 Test hundreds. Only Bradman (59 inns) and Gavaskar (109) were quicker.

Record breaking Cook

1997

Last instance of a player from England carrying his bat before Cook - Atherton scored 94 against New Zealand. Cook's 244 is the highest score ever made by a batsman carrying his bat through a Test innings

Cook Marches on

11

150 plus scores for Cook in Tests - Most for a batsmen from England. He now has three such scores in Australia as well. Only Wally Hammond has more.

Centurion

32

Hundreds for Cook in Tests - joint seventh along with Steve Waugh. During the innings, Cook also went past Jayawardene's tally of 11814 Test runs.

Cook Down Under

5

Centuries for Cook in Australia. He now has centuries in each of the five big venues in Aus. Cook is the fifth player from England to score 5 or more centuries vs Aus in Australia

Cook comes good

10

Innings since Cook's last half-century. His previous score of fifty plus resulted in a score of 243 against West Indies

100 for Anderson

8

Bowlers from England to take 100 or more wickets against Australia. Anderson joined 4 other fast bowlers to this feat.

Centurion Warner

21

Test hundreds for David Warner- 15 of them have come at home. This is his third century against England and second at MCG.

Wonderful Warner

6000

Test Runs for David Warner in 129 innings- Joint fourth fastest for Australia after Bradman, Ponting, Hayden and Greg Chappel.