LAWRENCE BOOTH: England played the right hand as lottery rewarded them
England arrived at the MCG with the mockery of a nation ringing in their ears, and left celebrating a first victory on Australian soil since January 2011. Test cricket has witnessed some unexpected scenes down the years, but a two-day victory in the Boxing Day showcase – the pride and joy of Australia’s sporting calendar – felt almost surreal.It wasn’t merely that the home fans among crowds of 94,000 on the first day and 92,000 on the second had turned up anticipating the next step on the path to a 5–0 whitewash, with all the English misery that would have entailed.No, it was more than that. Ben Stokes had spoken with uncharacteristic vulnerability on Christmas Eve about his players’ mental health following criticism of their Sunshine Coast jaunt to Noosa between the second and third Tests. Above all, he had put a metaphorical arm around Ben Duckett, whose slurring appearance in a late-night video had gone viral and invited pile-ons.When Duckett fell on the first day for just two, caught at mid-on from a stroke that suggested he might still be hungover, more English humilation seemed inevitable. Instead, as Stokes’s side set about chasing 175 on a woeful pitch that will cost Cricket Australia millions in lost revenue, it was Duckett who set them on the path to a four-wicket victory with an outrageous cameo of 34.England have deserved much of the stick that has come their way over the past few weeks, but no one with an interest in narrative arcs or human empathy – the quality for which Stokes pleaded before this game – can have begrudged Duckett his mini-adventure.For the captain, there was the sheer relief not just of averting the possibility of a whitewash, but of ticking off England’s first win in Australia in 19 Tests. When Duckett fell for just two on the first day, another English humiliation seemed inevitable - yet it was Duckett who later set them on the path to a four-wicket victory with a cameo of 34 For Ben Stokes, the victory carried more than relief at avoiding a whitewash - it marked England’s first Test win in Australia in 19 matches, their last success Down Under back in 2011 Jacob Bethell confirmed what had long been obvious: for style and poise, he is a cut above Ollie Pope, the man he should have replaced at No 3 after last year’s tour of New ZealandThe pleasure was personal as well as collective: while he had not won any of his previous 12 games here, Joe Root’s drought had grown to 17. ‘Now there won’t be a narrative that we haven’t won a game,’ said Stokes, speaking on behalf not just of the dressing-room but perhaps the nation. ‘That goes back to zero now.’Even with the Ashes already gone, there were other reasons to be cheerful. Zak Crawley made 37 precious runs, and now has more in the series – 256 – than any of his team-mates. Not bad after he began with a pair in Perth.And Jacob Bethell confirmed what had long been obvious: for style and poise, he is a cut above Ollie Pope, the man he should have replaced at No 3 after last year’s tour of New Zealand. His 46-ball 40 eased English nerves at the MCG, and contained some of the classiest strokes of the game.It reflects poorly on the management that Bethell has had to wait so long to take his place, but it was hard not to glimpse the future as he broke the back of the chase with panache. When he scooped Scott Boland for two from the first ball after tea, it was easy to forget he had only recently turned 22. The next delivery, overpitched by way of compensation, disappeared through extra cover for four.On one level, the deeper meaning of England’s win was hard to divine, and the Australian media’s focus was already turning to the state of the MCG pitch as the winning runs were scored with more than half an hour of the second day to go. Had curator Matt Page shaved off even as little as 3mm of grass, he might have produced the belter that led to a five-day classic a year ago against India.So, yes, there was an element of a lottery about a surface that invited ridicule from ex-pros on both sides of the Ashes divide. Until a few weeks ago, Australia had never hosted a two-day Ashes Test. Now they have hosted two in four matches, to the detriment of their board’s bottom line. Huge crowds, and series, deserve better. Asked what his feedback would be for match referee Jeff Crowe, Stokes said: ‘It won’t be the best.’But it was England who showed the daring necessary to make headway in the conditions: Harry Brook and Gus Atkinson in the first innings, Duckett, Crawley and Bethell in the second. For Australia, only Michael Neser in the first innings and Travis Head in the second could make a similar claim. As Steve Smith admitted, England played their hand better, however random the cards at their disposal.England, too, have given their less experienced players a taste of victory in Australia that could prove invaluable on future visits, potentially off-setting Stokes’s unhelpful remark after the Brisbane defeat that this country is ‘no place for weak men’. Josh Tongue walked off with the player of the match award after finishing with seven wickets, a haul that included Marnus Labuschagne twice and captain Steve Smith with a pearler What this result means for the future of managing director Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum is unclear - with the stubborn loyalty to Pope another black mark against the pairChief among them is Josh Tongue, who walked off with the player of the match award after finishing with seven wickets, a haul that included Marnus Labuschagne twice and Smith with a pearler that had Australia’s captain praising the awkwardness of his angles.Again, Tongue’s success invited questions as to why he didn’t play until the third Test in Adelaide, but he now has 12 wickets in this series at 18. Brydon Carse, meanwhile, improved as the game went on, and boasted 19 at 25 by the time Australia had collapsed for a second time to 132 all out.Atkinson, too, began to reap rewards for his tight new-ball spells, only to be laid low by a hamstring injury that is likely to rule him out of the final Test at Sydney, starting on January 4.That should pave the way for Durham seamer Matthew Potts to make his first appearance of the series as England look to finish on a high, with Surrey’s Matthew Fisher behind him in the queue.What this result means for the future of managing director Rob Key and head coach Brendon McCullum is unclear. Neither man could have expected to survive a whitewash, especially after admitting they failed to prepare the side properly for the very specific conditions they faced in the first Test at Perth.The stubborn loyalty to Pope is another black mark against the management, though for that Stokes must take his share of the blame.On the flipside, both Crawley and Carse have pulled their weight after enduring difficult moments, while Stokes and McCullum deserve credit for keeping the show on the road after it threatened to veer into a ditch amid the Noosa scrutiny.The ECB may yet decide that, even if the damage is limited to 3–2 by the time England fly home, at least one head must roll. After all, whatever happens at the SCG, the urn will remain in Australian hands until 2027 at least. And a 4–1 defeat will invite fresh scrutiny.But if England can win a Test on a pitch worthy of the name, and match the achievement of the 2010-11 series when they won at Melbourne and Sydney, there will be a genuine case for sticking with the status quo and allowing the team to mature all the way through until 2027.Some Australians will argue this game was irrelevant. On the contrary, it could change everything.
