🔗 Share this article ‘The Surface is Providing Assistance’: Josh Tongue Celebrates Five-Fer and Defends England Aggressive Mindset. Despite being dismissed for a modest 110 in Melbourne, yet another challenging episode on the current Ashes tour, but for Josh Tongue day one of the Boxing Day Test was also a personal milestone. “Dreams come true,” he stated at the end of a action-packed day where a remarkable 20 wickets tumbled. “I’ve always wanted to play in the Ashes, whether at home or abroad, and this obviously feels very special. Being here at the MCG with all my family in as well is the icing on the cake.” The state of the game is already stacked in Australia’s favour, with a 46-run first-innings lead and set to bat again on an alarmingly sporty pitch that could potentially ease 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 was a fantastic day of Test cricket on this historic day. Arriving at the venue this morning, securing the toss and putting the Aussies in to bat, I thought we did an amazing job as a bowling unit.” “Credit to them, they bowled well too. It’s a surface offering significant movement. But we’ve got to just regroup tomorrow and repeat the performance.” “I feel like if you put the ball in the right areas, which I felt like we did today as a group, you’re going to reap the benefits. It feels like that fuller line definitely helped, it helped me, definitely, with my angle.” Defending the Approach There may be a sense of dissonance for English fans in hearing Tongue repeated the playbook chapter headings about applying scoreboard pressure, playing an attractive brand of cricket and so on, something England did here by scraping past 100 runs at a rate of 3.7 per over. “That’s our brand of cricket. We play a very positive brand of cricket. We try and put pressure on the opposition and take it back to them.” Tongue said there was no specific plan on how England would bat on this surface, arguably unwisely given they were dismissed inside 30 overs. “There wasn’t really a big chat at all. I feel like we want to put pressure back on to the opposition, so the next batter in thinks it’s the right time to accelerate or put them into pressure. “I think, identifying scoring areas is vitally important on this sort of wicket when the ball is doing a bit more. But yeah, I thought Brookie batted really well. The runs that he got were absolutely vital in a low first-innings score.” Claiming a Prized Scalp Tongue’s spell also contained the most recent instance in a run of consistent performances 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 dismissing him is a huge thrill. 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 main goal is to get the batter out at the other end. So yeah, it’s obviously a nice feeling.” A View from the Other End There was a more ominous take at close of play from an Australian bowler, a key wicket taker in England’s reply and a long-time observer of the MCG surface. “We know it can deteriorate quickly on day one and day two, then when the wicket hardens up and dries out 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 proposition in the second innings.” Australia will resume on 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. “As a bowler, I'd say no”.
Despite being dismissed for a modest 110 in Melbourne, yet another challenging episode on the current Ashes tour, but for Josh Tongue day one of the Boxing Day Test was also a personal milestone. “Dreams come true,” he stated at the end of a action-packed day where a remarkable 20 wickets tumbled. “I’ve always wanted to play in the Ashes, whether at home or abroad, and this obviously feels very special. Being here at the MCG with all my family in as well is the icing on the cake.” The state of the game is already stacked in Australia’s favour, with a 46-run first-innings lead and set to bat again on an alarmingly sporty pitch that could potentially ease 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 was a fantastic day of Test cricket on this historic day. Arriving at the venue this morning, securing the toss and putting the Aussies in to bat, I thought we did an amazing job as a bowling unit.” “Credit to them, they bowled well too. It’s a surface offering significant movement. But we’ve got to just regroup tomorrow and repeat the performance.” “I feel like if you put the ball in the right areas, which I felt like we did today as a group, you’re going to reap the benefits. It feels like that fuller line definitely helped, it helped me, definitely, with my angle.” Defending the Approach There may be a sense of dissonance for English fans in hearing Tongue repeated the playbook chapter headings about applying scoreboard pressure, playing an attractive brand of cricket and so on, something England did here by scraping past 100 runs at a rate of 3.7 per over. “That’s our brand of cricket. We play a very positive brand of cricket. We try and put pressure on the opposition and take it back to them.” Tongue said there was no specific plan on how England would bat on this surface, arguably unwisely given they were dismissed inside 30 overs. “There wasn’t really a big chat at all. I feel like we want to put pressure back on to the opposition, so the next batter in thinks it’s the right time to accelerate or put them into pressure. “I think, identifying scoring areas is vitally important on this sort of wicket when the ball is doing a bit more. But yeah, I thought Brookie batted really well. The runs that he got were absolutely vital in a low first-innings score.” Claiming a Prized Scalp Tongue’s spell also contained the most recent instance in a run of consistent performances 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 dismissing him is a huge thrill. 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 main goal is to get the batter out at the other end. So yeah, it’s obviously a nice feeling.” A View from the Other End There was a more ominous take at close of play from an Australian bowler, a key wicket taker in England’s reply and a long-time observer of the MCG surface. “We know it can deteriorate quickly on day one and day two, then when the wicket hardens up and dries out 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 proposition in the second innings.” Australia will resume on 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. “As a bowler, I'd say no”.