‘The Surface is Providing Assistance’: Tongue Celebrates Five-Fer and Defends England’s Aggressive Mindset.
England may have been bowled out for 110 in Melbourne, another chapter in a difficult tour on the current Ashes tour, but for Josh Tongue day one of the fourth Test was also a personal milestone.
“Dreams come true,” he stated at the end of a action-packed day where 20 wickets fell. “Playing in the Ashes has always been the goal, whether at home or abroad, and this obviously feels very special. To be here at the Melbourne Cricket Ground with all my family in as well makes it even better.”
The state of the game is already stacked in Australia’s favour, 46 runs ahead on first innings and batting again on an notoriously lively surface that may now settle on day two. But this was also Tongue’s day, the star performer with a personal best figures of 5/45 as England rolled Australia out for 152.
“It’s been an amazing day of Test match cricket on this historic day. Arriving at the venue this morning, winning the toss and putting the Aussies in to bat, I thought we did a superb job as a collective attack.”
“And obviously they’ve bowled well as well. It’s a surface offering significant movement. But we’ve got to just regroup tomorrow and repeat the performance.”
“I feel like if you bowl in good areas, which I felt like we did today as a bowling unit, you’re going to reap the benefits. It feels like that fuller line was certainly beneficial, it helped me, for sure, with my angle.”
Justifying the Strategy
There may be something jarring for English fans in hearing Tongue echo the familiar mantras about putting pressure on their opponents, playing an positive style of cricket and so on, something England did here by just about crawling past three figures at a rate of 3.7 per over. “It’s how we play our cricket. We play a very positive brand of cricket. We try and force the issue and take it back to them.”
Tongue said there was no real direction on how England would bat on this surface, arguably unwisely given they were dismissed inside 30 overs. “We didn’t have an extensive discussion. I feel like we want to immediately put the bowlers under pressure, so the next batter in thinks it’s the appropriate moment to obviously shift a gear or put them on the back foot.
“I think, knowing where you’re scoring options are is obviously crucial on this sort of wicket when the ball is doing a bit more. But yeah, I thought Harry Brook batted exceptionally well. The runs that he got were obviously crucial in obviously a small first innings total.”
Dismissing a Legend
Tongue’s spell also contained the most recent instance in a run of cross-format success against Steve Smith, but he laughed off suggestions he might “have the wood” over him.
“No, he’s clearly a world-class batter. I watched him as a kid, and obviously getting him out is a very special feeling. But yeah, to me, it’s just another batter that I want to try and get out. It doesn’t really matter who he is. My primary objective is to get the batter out at the other end. So yeah, it’s a great feeling.”
A View from the Other End
There was a more ominous take at stumps from an Australian bowler, a key wicket taker in England’s reply and a career-long student of the MCG surface.
“We know it can deteriorate quickly on day one and day two, then when the wicket compacts and loses moisture it can be good for batting. So I don’t want to assume tomorrow that the pitch is going to offer as much. It could be a different story in the second innings.”
Australia will begin day two with all wickets intact and their aggressive left-hander at the crease, alongside surely one of the best-supported nightwatchmen in Test history, the homegrown talent Scott Boland. Asked if he felt the green-tinged wicket did excessive amounts on day one of a Test, Neser had a brief reply. “I’m a bowler, so no”.
