England 77-2 at Tea, Need 98 More to Win Chaotic 4th Ashes Test

In the tea match on the second day, they were trailing 77-2 by just 12 runs, with Zak Crawley on 22 and Jacob Bethell for ninth, as they inched closer to regaining their battered pride after the failure of the first three Tests.

Excited, the tourists dismissed Australia for 132 in front of another crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground shortly after lunch, following 20 wickets taken on the first day.

Travis Head top-scored with 46 points, while Carse was ahead with 4-34.

England have not won a test in Australia since January 2011, suffering 16 defeats and two draws since then, and openers Crawley and Duckett had a clear goal: to play in an ultra-aggressive “Basball” style.

Duckett hit a boundary off Mitchell Starc in his first over, while Crawley hit Michael Neser with sixes and fours in successive balls.

But they lived dangerously; Duckett was dropped off his own bowling by Starc on eight and Crawley survived review lbw on 15.

They brought up a whirlwind fifty opening partnership in the seventh over but next ball Duckett was bowled out for 34 by a Starc yorker.

Fast bowler Carse then emerged as a surprise number three replacement for Bethell.

But England’s hard-hitting experiment failed as Carse could only last eight balls before sending Jhye Richardson to Cameron Green.

Australia went on to score 4-0 on the second innings, with 20 wickets falling on the blisteringly paced opening day, with the home side losing 152 wickets and England losing just 110 wickets.

This was the most wickets taken on the first day of the Ashes Test since 1909, eclipsing the 19 on the first day of the series opener in Perth.

It was the bowlers’ dream to have 10 millimeter grass on the track, but former greats criticized the pitch for “doing too much” and being “unfair to the batsmen”.

– Atkinson’s injury –

The header started to clear Gus Atkinson’s boundary and nightwatchman Scott Boland added two more to his four for the night, but his time was always going to be limited and he slotted Atkinson ahead of wicketkeeper Jamie Smith.

Atkinson left the field shortly after suffering a strained left hamstring.

Josh Tongue came on the attack with a hat-trick after picking up the last two Australian wickets on day one, but Jake Weatherald batted the ball for three.

Weatherald needed a good innings to cement his place at the top of the order but failed again, losing five overs to Ben Stokes and his delivery falling short.

Head was joined by Marnus Labuschagne but made just eight, caught by Joe Root at Tongue’s slip.

Head was in good touch before being hit by a shot from Carse that went wide of the outside edge, and when Usman Khawaja (0) and Alex Carey (4) departed from the nine-ball range, the momentum returned with England.

After reaching lunch on 98-6, Green (19) became the seventh wicket to fall for 119, sliding the rising ball from Stokes towards Harry Brook.

Carse caught Neser and Starc without scoring and Richardson fell to Stokes as the tail collapsed with the last four wickets rolled for 13 runs and Steve Smith remained unbeaten on 24.

Australia have already retained the Ashes after eight-wicket wins in Perth and Brisbane and an 82-run victory in Adelaide.