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Match Report:

Scorecard

Aussie bowlers shine on cricket’s big day

Australia edged a step closer to retaining the Ashes urn with a dominant performance on Boxing Day, dismissing England for just 185 before reaching 1-61 at stumps

Upon returning from temporary exile caused by COVID protocols that have since undergone even heavier revision than England's Test line-up, Pat Cummins noted he had felt "really angry" though he wasn't entirely sure what the target of that irritation should be.

He found it first thing this morning when, having won his first coin toss as Test captain, he chose to exercise his privilege as a fast-bowling skipper by fielding first and promptly skittling his Ashes rivals' faint hopes of a mid-series revival.

Cummins inspired his men by snaring the first three wickets to fall in the third Vodafone Test at a personal cost of 27 runs in the opening session, and then orchestrated the demise of the final seven by cannily deploying his bowlers, all of whom captured key wickets at regular intervals.

Cummins returns with a bang to give Aussies a perfect start

That included newly capped Victoria quick Scott Boland – Australia's third debutant in as many Tests this summer – who finished with 1-48 and two catches as England were knocked over for 185 off barely 65 overs.

Come stumps on Boxing Day, Australia had already reduced the deficit by 61 for the loss of David Warner (38) and a stinging blow to his opening partner Marcus Harris's left index finger.

England now faces a task that seems quite beyond them to keep this Vodafone Ashes series alive beyond the third Test.

The only time in the past 100 years a team has been dismissed for 185 or less in their first innings at the MCG and gone on to win a Test was the one-off Centenary match in 1977 where Australia posted 138 and then rolled England for 95.

The most recent occurrence with the Ashes on the line was during the summer of 1901-02 when Australia's first innings of 112 proved sufficient after bowling England out for 61 inside a day on a rain-affected MCG pitch.

With the slim prospects of this morning's early drizzle returning over coming days, and allowing for the presence of 11mm of grass on this year's Melbourne track that England's bowlers failed to exploit in the final hour or so, a repeat of Hugh Trumble's 1901 triumph seems fanciful.

And while the tourists' batting was again lamentable, the bowlers – with the exception of Mark Wood whose extra pace troubled both Marcus Harris (20no) and Warner this evening – routinely pitched shorter than their Australia counterparts and the scoreboard reflects the results.

Boland delights MCG faithful with first Test scalp

It was scarcely surprising Warner's wicket came when veteran seamer James Anderson returned late in the day and drew the left-hander forward with a full delivery angled across that was neatly caught at gully.

Despite wringing four changes to the XI that started in Adelaide – the most for an England team during an Ashes series since the dead-rubber end of the 1997 campaign in the UK – there was a painful familiarity to events as they unfolded today.

Once again, England's openers (this time Haseeb Hameed partnered by recalled Zac Crawley) departed inside the opening hour.

For the ninth time in 22 Test innings in Australia, England captain Joe Root reached 50 but failed to push on to triple figures having succumbed to a catch behind the wicket for the fifth time in as many hits this series.

Starc strikes with key wicket of Root

As was the case in Brisbane and Adelaide, where Australia recorded thumping wins earlier this month, the most stubborn resistance came from Root and his Yorkshire teammate Dawid Malan and then amounted to little once they were parted.

And even allowing for the heavily grassed MCG pitch that encouraged Cummins to bowl first, it was poor shot selection rather than unplayable conditions that rendered England's first innings sub-par score in line with the 147 they managed on day one at the Gabba and 236 in their initial dig at Adelaide.

Most culpable were the tourists' experienced middle-order, with Ben Stokes (25), reinstated Jonny Bairstow (35) and Adelaide's last-day bulwark Jos Buttler (3) giving away their wickets in the spirit of Boxing Day sales.

But perhaps the most disconcerting dash of deja vu came with the return of Cummins who sat the visitors squarely on their heels with his new-ball spell.

The Australia captain now boasts 174 wickets (at 21.07) midway through his 36th Test appearance.

Assuming he grabs a few more in England's second innings only his fast-bowling mentor Dennis Lillee (190 at 23.57) and leg spinner Clarrie Grimmett (203 at 24.92) can claim greater success among Australia men's players at the same stage of their careers.

While Boxing Day didn't begin with the same seismic bang that accompanied the series start in Brisbane where England lost a wicket to the first ball, it didn't take long for the well-worn narrative to play out.

Mitchell Starc's initial over didn't require Hameed to lay bat on ball, but when he endeavoured to do so against Cummins it took just three balls for an edge to be extracted and the catch accepted.

Having seen his original partner Rory Burns excised after returning scores of 0, 13, 4 and 34, Hameed will face an anxious wait ahead of the new year's Test in Sydney unless he defies expectation and conjures runs in the second innings of this game given he's now posted 25, 27, 6, 0 and 0.

Although he might be saved by the reality England don't have an auxiliary opener in any sort of form given Crawley (whose 2021 Test average of 11 before today led to him being axed in August) managed just 12 before he was squared-up by Cummins and edged to gully.

Once again it was up to Root and Malan to drag their team back from the precipice, which they did in Brisbane (adding 162 for the third wicket) and Adelaide (148) but the number three didn't have a third salvage mission in him.

Malan's dismissal, dropping his bat limply at what proved to be Cummins' final delivery before lunch left England 3-61 at the break and Australia's captain nursing figures of 3-27 from 9.3 overs and eyeing a fruitful day.

The fact he didn't take another wicket might have proved problematic if Nathan Lyon (3-36), Starc (2-54) and all-rounder Cameron Green (1-7 off eight impressive overs) hadn't stepped up along with Boland who received his Baggy Green Cap from injured quick Josh Hazlewood this morning.

Green further enhanced his reputation as a giant-killer as well as a giant in stature, chiming in with the wicket of Stokes after the all-rounder had spent 90 minutes at the crease before miscuing an attempted upper-cut over the slips cordon to backward point.

It meant Green has now snared the scalps of England's two best-credentialled batters Root and Stokes twice each in five completed innings of a series he entered without a Test wicket to his name.

He is also developing repute as one of the game's elite gully fielders, having reacted sharply to accept the chance offered by Crawley and then making ground and diving full-length forward to scoop up the offering from Bairstow in another flawless Australia fielding effort.

By contrast, England's batting was littered with faults of which the most glaring was Buttler's wild heave at Lyon just moments before the tea interval.

The ugly top-edged swat as he advanced down the pitch landed exactly where Boland was placed at deep mid-wicket, and the look of defeat etched on Buttler's face as he headed to the dressing room seemed to confirm his four-hour vigil at Adelaide last week was more aberration than epiphany.

Vodafone Men's Ashes

Squads

Australia: Pat Cummins (c), Steve Smith (vc), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Marcus Harris, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson, Mitchell Starc, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner

England: Joe Root (c), James Anderson, Jonathan Bairstow, Dom Bess, Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler, Zak Crawley, Haseeb Hameed, Dan Lawrence, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Craig Overton, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood

Schedule

First Test: Australia won by nine wickets

Second Test: Australia won by 275 runs

Third Test: December 26-30, MCG

Fourth Test: January 5-9, SCG

Fifth Test: January 14-18, Blundstone Arena