Former England captain Alastair Cook criticized Cricket Australia for the unconventional pitch at the Melbourne Cricket Ground during the Boxing Day Test match. He claimed that the wicket was very unconventional and helped the bowlers to such an extent that they did not have to work very hard for the wicket.
England, who have already lost the Ashes series against Australia, enter the fourth Test of the series at the MCG. England were in the driving seat for the first time, but then failed to maintain the momentum in the second innings.
Poor MCG track promoted one-sided dominance of fast bowlers
Australia and England reached the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the fourth match of the ongoing Ashes series. On the first day of the Boxing Day Test, both teams lost 20 wickets in the day.
Both the Australian and England batsmen struggled to settle down at the crease and even well-set batsmen failed to understand the bounce well. The challenging conditions were reflected on the scorecard as well, as not a single batsman failed to register a single half-century.
Australia were all out for just 152 runs in the innings but still managed to take a lead of 42 runs, while England were all out for just 110 runs in their innings.
The England star said, “The bowlers did not have to work that hard for the wickets.”
Great England opening batsman Alastair Cook gave a blunt assessment of the pitch condition on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test. The pitch failed to provide a fair competition with equal support for both batsmen and bowlers.
“It’s not a good Test wicket. Unless it’s flat on the second, third and fourth day, if we get there, it will be a lot of pressure on the bowlers’ side. The bowlers haven’t had to work that hard for the wicket,” Cook said on TNT Sports.
Cook acknowledged that there were many shortcomings in the batsmen’s batting, but also claimed that the pitch was largely in favor of the bowlers.
He said, “Could both sides have batted a little better? Yes, but if you had put the ball in the right field, it would have been worse either way. It was a bit of an unfair contest.”
Cook concluded, “The pitch should be flat tomorrow.”
The former English opener highlighted how difficult the conditions were for the batsmen on the MCG track, especially when facing Australian fast bowler Scott Boland. Boland had shown tireless accuracy and pace off the pitch.
“I was watching Boland in particular, and I was thinking, ‘I don’t know how you cope with this.’ For left-handed batsmen, he was running around the wicket, attacking the stumps; Some were cutting miles on one side, some were cutting miles on the other side. I don’t even know where you go as a right-handed player,” Cook said.
“The pitch should be level tomorrow [Saturday]But the groundsman was telling me he didn’t think that would happen,” he concluded on the matter, claiming there was a “big doubt” over the change in track behaviour.
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