The Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch for the 4th Ashes Test is really getting hammered. People are calling it “unfair” for batters. It’s Boxing Day 2025-26, and the surface at the MCG seems to have way too much life. This is all due to a lot of grass and too much seam movement. It’s really favoring the fast bowlers, you know? It’s definitely not what you want for balanced Test cricket. The MCG pitch has been under a lot of scanner, that’s for sure.
A Green Monster on Boxing Day
Acting captain Steven Smith had a pretty good idea of what was coming. He described the pitch as “quite furry, quite green.” And he wasn’t wrong. The curator, Matt Page, left about 10mm of grass on it the day before the match. Smith really expected “quite a bit of movement” from the surface. Plus, the weather wasn’t helping at all. It was cool, overcast, and cold. These were conditions similar to the lead-up days, making it even more “seam-friendly.” Definitely not a spinner’s paradise, not at all.
Smith even hinted they probably wouldn’t have picked a specialist spinner anyway. Even if Nathan Lyon was healthy, they’d have talked about it. Recent wickets, apparently, have just favored seamers too much. Australia, then, went with an all-pace attack. They omitted a specialist spinner, and it was actually the second time this series they did that. It was a clear sign they expected the pace bowlers to really dominate. And boy, did they.
Chaos Unfolds: Twenty Wickets Fall
Day one was just wild. Absolutely chaotic. Twenty wickets fell at the MCG. That’s a huge, huge number for a single day. Australia got bowled out for just 152 runs. Then England came in and got skittled for 110. It was a really chaotic start to the Test match. This is actually the most wickets to fall on the first day of an Ashes Test since way back in 1909. Can you believe that? That’s a seriously long time. It even eclipsed the 19 wickets that fell on day one in Perth earlier in the series. So yeah, pretty dramatic stuff.
CricViz, those analytics guys, they calculated that 48% of the deliveries seamed more than 0.75 degrees on day one in Melbourne. That’s a massive amount of movement. In the last ten years of Test cricket in Australia, only four other Tests have seen a larger amount of high-seaming deliveries on the first day. It just shows how incredibly tricky it was out there for anyone holding a bat. Batting was pretty much “extremely difficult” for both sides, you could say. Only Usman Khawaja really managed to stand out among the batters, showing some real grit.
Vaughan Slams “Unfair” Conditions
Former England captain Michael Vaughan was pretty vocal about all this. He said the pitch had “done too much.” He thought it had resulted in an “unfair” contest between the bat and ball. He told BBC Sport’s Test Match Special, “We’re always looking for a fair balance between bat and ball. I thought that was unfair for the batters.”
“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 acknowledged the 94,199 strong crowd at the venue probably “gone home royally entertained.” But he stressed it “isn’t Test cricket on this type of pitch.” Vaughan just really doesn’t like seeing a pitch do so much, apparently. The overall PitchViz rating, which basically measures how hard it is to bat, was 8.7 out of 10 for the day’s play. That makes it the second toughest day-one pitch in Australia in the past 101 Tests when there have been 40-plus overs played. It was clearly a bowler’s paradise.
England’s Glimmer of Hope?
The conditions created “wickedly seaming” challenges, making life miserable for almost everyone. Australia’s acting captain, Steven Smith, just emphasized adapting to the presented surface. He called it “tricky.” But he also noted it would be conducive to pace assistance throughout the week. And it seemed like he was right. There was even talk of Jhye Richardson making a Test return after four years, which shows how much pace was valued here. Australia really locked in that all-pace attack, as ESPN reported. It was a big call, but it seems to have paid off so far in terms of taking wickets quickly.
Australia ended the day with a 46-run lead. Vaughan, interestingly, thinks this actually gives England their “best chance” of winning a Test. They’ve had a difficult series, he said. “They are a good chasing side. We have had three heavy rollers already and there will be another one tomorrow morning,” Vaughan noted. He added, “This England team can chase.
Australia are favourites, but don’t rule England out.” So, maybe this chaotic, controversial pitch could actually turn the series on its head, you just never know with Test cricket. It’s gonna be an interesting few days, for sure. Australia’s performance on such a challenging deck, particularly with their bowling lineup, will be closely watched, according to ESPN sources.
Sagnik Banerjee 
Priyanjan Paul 
Ishaan Singh