Tongue breaks 27-year drought with Boxing Day bonanza

By Jonathan Healy, at the MCG

Right-arm pacer Josh Tongue created history at the Boxing Day Test on Friday when he became the first England bowler this century to collect a five-wicket haul in Men's Tests at the MCG.

Tongue picked up superb figures of 5/45 during Australia's first innings of 152, with the hosts responding in style to skittle England for just 110 on an action-packed opening day's play in the fourth Test that saw a total of 20 wickets fall.

It was the first time an England bowler had claimed a five-wicket haul in a Test at the MCG since Darren Gough and Dean Headley did so in 1998 and Tongue was deservedly chuffed with his efforts.

"I felt like it's probably up there with one of my best spells the one this morning," Tongue said at stumps on day one after Australia reached 4/0 in their second innings to hold an overall lead of 46.

"Getting through an eight-over spell as well. Stokesy (England captain Ben Stokes) came to me and was like, 'you're probably going to keep going until lunch' and I was like 'yeah that's fine'.

"I think the adrenaline sort of kicked in when I took a few wickets and I want to sort of make a difference with the side and take wickets for England and that's how we're going to win games of cricket."

The spell was also Tongue's most productive in Test cricket, surpassing his previous best effort of 5/66 against Ireland at Lord's in 2023.

It was just rewards for the 28-year-old, who commenced the Ashes tour low down the pecking order of England quicks only to impress in the third Test in Adelaide and once again on the biggest stage of a Boxing Day Test in Melbourne.

"I feel like the hard work that I put in, investing in my body and making sure I'm in a good place physically, I've got to give myself a bit of credit," Tongue added.

"Obviously, these sort of moments hopefully come more."

And while England are behind the eight-ball and trail after their own collapse in their first innings, Tongue believes his side can still fight back and claim victory in Melbourne.

"It's been an amazing day of Test match cricket on Boxing Day," Tongue said.

"Coming to the ground here this morning and winning the toss and putting the Aussies into bat and obviously bowling them out for 150-odd. I thought we did an amazing job as a bowling unit and obviously they've bowled well as well.

"It's obviously a pitch which is doing quite a bit, so we've got to come back tomorrow and do the same again what we did in the first innings."

Tongue will be on a hat-trick during Australia's second innings, with the right-armer dismissing Michael Neser (35) and Scott Boland (0) with the final two balls of the hosts' first innings.

Australia XI: Travis Head, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Michael Neser, Mitchell Starc, Jhye Richardson, Scott Boland

England XI: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Jacob Bethell, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Will Jacks, Gus Atkinson, Brydon Carse, Josh Tongue

Ashes schedule:

First Test: Perth Stadium, November 21-22 (Australia won by eight wickets)
Second Test: Gabba, December 4-7 (Australia won by eight wickets)
Third Test: Adelaide Oval, December 17-21 (Australia won by 82 runs)
Fourth Test: MCG, December 26-30
Fifth Test: SCG, January 4-8