Steve Smith Questions MCG Pitch After Two-Day Boxing Day Test

Steve Smith opined that the MCG pitch favoured bowlers too much after the Boxing Day Test finished in just two days.

England secured a rare Ashes win in Australia by winning the fourth Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground by four wickets inside two days. It marked England’s first Test win on Australian soil in nearly 15 years and ended a run of 19 defeats.

The match took place under extreme conditions, with 20 wickets falling on Day 1 and an additional 16 on Day 2. Bowlers dominated throughout, leaving batters under constant pressure.

Australia’s stand-in captain Steve Smith later revealed that the MCG pitch heavily favoured bowlers. He added that Australia could have stayed in the game with slightly higher totals across both innings.

“A very quick game, if we got 50-60 more across both innings, we would be in it at the end. They were very aggressive when they came in and softened up the ball. The pitch did a fair amount for the whole game, just probably only when the ball got softened from a few lusty blows from their top order,” Smith said during the presentation.

Meanwhile, England captain Ben Stokes praised his batters for adopting an attacking approach on a difficult pitch. Australia were dismissed for 152 and 132, with no batter reaching a half-century. Despite England’s first-innings total of 110, the target remained achievable due to the pitch behaviour. Stokes said batting required intent, especially against high-quality pace from Mitchell Starc and Scott Boland.

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England attacked early. The strategy paid off as England completed the chase and reduced the series deficit to 3-1. They now head to Sydney for the final test.