England claim famous MCG victory on second afternoon

England toasted their first Test victory on Australian soil in 15 years after emerging from an MCG snake pit as the lesser bitten combatant across two days of chaos.

Bazball finally had its day in the sun as an impatient top-order led by Jacob Bethell (40), Zak Crawley (37) and Ben Duckett (34) took the tourists to glory in front of a 92,045-strong crowd, many of whom have had tickets for coming days voided by the series' second two-day Test.

England had failed to win a Test in Australia in their previous 18 attempts (16 defeats, two draws) dating back to the 2010-11 Ashes. But, against opponents well short of their best after pouring their energies into the first three (live) Tests of the series, Ben Stokes' men finally have something to show for a trip Down Under.

Leg-byes off Jamie Smith's thigh pad saw England reach their fourth-innings target of 175 and clinch a four-wicket victory. That was after rolling Australia for just 132 thanks to the Josh Tongue-led seam attack making best use of one of the more venomous pitches produced on these shores in recent memory.

Ordinary seam bowling was made to look like peak Curtly Ambrose as both sets of batters gave the impression they had lost faith in the surface giving them a fair hearing.

But the sense of this game feeling like the last day of school was misplaced only because there is still another Test to go; England will head to Sydney motivated by the lure of pulling the series ledger back to 3-2.

"I've been on the wrong side of the result here a lot so you know what to expect from Australia in their own conditions," Joe Root told Fox Cricket.

"To lose the series is obviously very disappointing but I think it was important we showed a lot of character for the rest of the series.

"There's been a lot thrown at this team but the way we've responded over the past two days has been excellent.

"Clearly it was a very fast-forward Test match with the surface we were presented with. But I think we adapted to it as much as we could. We showed a bit of bravery today with the way we approached things with the bat – and that's why we won the Test match."

While the sense of jeopardy for the two teams had clearly evaporated after Australia moved to a 3-0 series lead last week, another packed crowd (close to 200,000 have flooded the gates in 48 hours) was treated to an action-packed, if not always high-quality, contest.

The sight of tail-ender Brydon Carse being sent in as a pinch-hitting first-drop only added to the Test's exhibition-match feel, though Bethell put the demotion from the spot he was recalled to play in aside

England fans filtered out into Yarra Park wondering aloud why the Barbados-born left-hander had not been injected into the series earlier in a sparkling 46-ball hand that proved the single biggest factor in the visitors holding their nerve.

Their only concern amid the festivities was another of their pace contingent being struck down as Gus Atkinson hurt his left hamstring during the first session. England have already flown Mark Wood (knee) and Jofra Archer (side) back home with tour-ending injuries. 

Australia's second-innings surrender for 132, 20 fewer than what they managed after being inserted a day prior, saw them fail to amass 300 total runs in a home Test for only the second time this century.

Travis Head's 46 finished as the game's highest score – the first time an Ashes Test has not had seen a half-century since 1981 – in a dismal 48 hours for batters.

Six of the Australians were caught behind the wicket on Saturday; as many were dismissed twice for the match without topping 20 in either innings.

Steve Smith was left stranded on 24no after watching seven wickets fall at the other end in less than an hour-and-a-half at the crease for the addition of only 50 runs.

Tough individual summers continued for Marnus Labuschagne (who added 8 to his first-innings 6 to lower his series average to 24.85), Jake Weatherald (who now averages 20.85 after posting 10 and 5) and Cameron Green (17 and 19 for a series mark of 18.66).

An unusually wayward start from Mitchell Starc was a late Christmas present for the battling Duckett, whose confidence gradually returned after several rusty plays-and-misses to the left-armer's loose early offerings.

Both openers gave chances – an increasingly frustrated Starc failed to grasp a difficult chance off his own bowling from a Duckett leading edge, while Crawley was spared an lbw by an 'umpire's call' – on the way to a 50-run stand (England's first of the series) off as many balls.

Their sense of adventure paid off as Duckett ramped Michael Neser for six after Crawley had smoked the same bowler to the opposite end of the ground for the same result.

The Carse experiment, which predictably lasted just six balls as Jhye Richardson snared his first Test wicket in four years, puzzlingly robbed four-Test prodigy Bethell of the opportunity to walk in with his side flying at 1-51 in the seventh over.

It made little difference as one of the most elegant batters England have unearthed in years mixed gorgeous traditional stroke-play with a dash of the unorthodox, most notably when he reverse-scooped Scott Boland for two on the first ball after tea.

It seemed right that a greenhorn 22-year-old should take England to the long-awaited win, but he joined Duckett (bowled by a Starc yorker) and Crawley (plumb lbw to Boland) in throwing away a start when his backing-away-slash off Boland went straight to cover.

Elder statesmen Joe Root and Ben Stokes also missed chances to see their side home, but Harry Brook (18no) and Smith (3no) did the rest.

Hopes of a 'normal' second day tentatively looked set to materialise when Australia's regular opening pair were reunited five overs in courtesy of the nightwatchman Boland giving way to Weatherald, in at No.3.

Head, forced to run between the wickets on crisp cuts and pulls that failed to reach the ground's enormous square boundaries, still found the rope four times and added a further 20 runs after point fielder Will Jacks failed to sight a cut shot and dropped him on 26.

Even as Weatherald was punished for an indecisive leave to be bowled by Stokes, Atkinson's departure after pulling up lame in his delivery stride while floating a sub-100kph delivery to Head promised one less nippy seamer for the Aussies to worry about.

But the game's manic pace of play soon resumed.

Labuschagne's trudge off the ground after standing his ground on a nick to Joe Root that had clearly carried – and was ratified by the television umpire nonetheless – was slower even than the hobbled Atkinson's two overs prior.

Head's exposure of all three stumps stood no chance against one of the better deliveries Carse is likely to bowl; his wobble-seamer appeared to gather pace as it zipped past the left-hander's outside edge to dislodge the off-bail.

Tongue's clever bouncer to an unsuspecting Usman Khawaja had the veteran caught at fine-leg, before Alex Carey gifted a catch to second slip to leave Australia 6-88 – three fewer runs than they had managed at the same juncture a day earlier.

A visibly skittish Green was even more generous than his close friend Carey in stumbling down the pitch and fending a short, wide Stokes ball, also to second slip, as both Neser and Starc were dismissed closing the face early on Carse deliveries.

Smith's faith in Jhye Richardson's batting paid off when he took a single on the first ball of a Carse off over to expose his No.11, who duly followed up a pull shot Ricky Ponting would have been proud of with a handsome drive for four.

But it might cost the Aussies' stand-in skipper some vital runs after Richardson was dismissed by Stokes attempting another cross-batted stroke.

2025-26 NRMA Insurance Men's Ashes

First Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Second Test: Australia won by eight wickets

Third Test: Australia won by 82 runs

Fourth Test: England won by four wickets

Fifth Test: January 4-8: SCG, Sydney, 10:30am AEDT

Australia squad (fourth Test only): Steve Smith (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Brendan Doggett, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Todd Murphy, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Jake Weatherald, Beau Webster

England squad: Ben Stokes (c), Harry Brook (vc), Jofra Archer, Gus Atkinson, Shoaib Bashir, Jacob Bethell, Brydon Carse, Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Matthew Fisher, Will Jacks, Ollie Pope, Matthew Potts, Joe Root, Jamie Smith (wk), Josh Tongue