MCG pitch under fire after 20 wickets fall on day one

“The pitch is doing too much if I’m brutally honest,” said former England quick Broad in commentary for SEN. “Test bowlers don’t need this amount of movement to look threatening.”

Brett Lee said on Fox: “I think there’s a bit too much in it. I wouldn’t be complaining at the end of the day if I was a fast bowler. It’s a different surface; it’s that furry feeling. I rubbed my hand on the side of the wicket this morning, and you can feel the grass lift up.

“Cummo [Australia captain Pat Cummins] was almost going to go back to the hotel to pick up his spikes.”

Neser (4-45 from 10 overs) and Scott Boland (3-30 off nine) dismantled England once more with some outstanding seam bowling and unerring accuracy. Marnus Labuschagne, who made six off 19 balls, said batting was a difficult task.

“There’s a fair bit of grass on there, so the ball is just sitting in the wicket a little bit and making scoring a little bit tough, especially down the ground,” Labuschagne said on Fox.

Mark Waugh was also unimpressed after Will Jacks inside-edged a Boland delivery that moved sharply off the seam.

“I’m not really liking what I’m seeing so far,” Waugh said on Fox. “It’s just a bit too much in favour of the quicker bowlers. That’s gone a mile. That’s seamed like an off-spinner.”

Neser, who was Australia’s leading run-scorer and wicket-taker, said he expected the pitch to flatten out as the match progressed.

“The ball definitely nipped around a bit there with the new rock,” he said. “We know it can move real fast day one and two, and then once that wicket just hardens up and dries out, it can be quite nice to bat on.”

The most wickets to fall on an opening day of Test cricket in Australia remains the 25 at the MCG in 1902.

England squandered their best chance of the series to seize control as Zak Crawley (five), Ben Duckett (two), Ashes debutant Jacob Bethell (one) and Joe Root (0) all failed to steady the innings.

Duckett’s leading edge off Starc capped a week overshadowed by an alcohol-fuelled video in Noosa; Bethell edged behind to Carey off Neser; and Root’s 14-ball duck – his fifth score of fewer than 20 in this series – underscored his slump after a century at the Gabba.

While none of Australia’s top four made it past 12, England’s remarkable capitulation showed why it is wise to judge a team’s performance only once both sides have batted.

When Harry Brook charged Starc first ball and tried to hit him for six – missing by a long way – it evoked memories of Sam Konstas’ audacious series of ramp shots on debut last year against India. Brook’s entertaining knock of 41 off 34 balls ended lbw to Boland amid an England collapse of 6-44.

“It’s how we play our cricket,” said England paceman Josh Tongue, who snared 5-45.

“We play a very positive brand of cricket; we try and put pressure on the opposition and take it back to them. Obviously it didn’t work as well today, but we’re going to come back again.

“I feel like how we approached it was a positive way.”

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Jake Weatherald and Travis Head almost opened the batting twice in one day, but Australia opted for Boland as a nightwatchman alongside the latter for the single over before stumps.

Boland, batting with an armguard and with the home crowd firmly behind him, safely navigated Gus Atkinson’s six deliveries, scoring a boundary off the final ball, bringing the biggest cheer of the day as Australia went to the close leading by 46 runs.

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