Ben Stokes criticises MCG pitch after two-day Ashes Test

England captain Ben Stokes criticised the bowler-friendly MCG pitch after the Ashes Test ended in two days. Kevin Pietersen and Dinesh Kartik highlighted selective criticism of Indian pitches, while CA CEO Todd Greenberg admitted short Tests are bad for business

Melbourne: England captain Ben Stokes on Saturday came down heavily on the bowler-friendly Melbourne pitch on which 20 wickets fell on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test, saying such a track elsewhere in the world would have invited a barrage of criticism.

Stokes’ former team-mate Kevin Pietersen and ex-India cricketer Dinesh Kartik also slammed the MCG pitch, highlighting the selective criticism of Indian decks when spinners take wickets in heaps. Stokes said it was not a pitch suited for the Boxing Day Test, even though his side won the match by four wickets.

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“Being brutally honest, that’s not really what you want. Boxing Day Test match, you don’t want a game finishing in less than two days. Not ideal. But you can’t change it once you start the game and you’ve just got to play what’s in front of you,” Stokes told the media.

He added that if such a collapse had happened elsewhere, critics would have sharpened their knives. “But I’m pretty sure if that was somewhere else in the world, there’d be hell on. Not the best thing for games that should be played over five days. But we played a type of cricket that ended up getting the job done,” he said.

Asked if he was referring to spin-friendly pitches in Asia, Stokes replied tongue-in-cheek, “Your words, not mine.”

The Australian and England bowlers combined to take 20 wickets on Friday, while the hosts were bundled out for 132 in their second innings in 34.3 overs on Saturday.

Pietersen pointed out the irony: “India ALWAYS gets hammered when wickets fall like crazy on Day 1 of a Test and so I hope that Australia gets the same scrutiny! Fair is fair!” he wrote on X.

The decision to leave 10mm grass on the MCG deck generated massive sideways movement, making batting a lottery. In all, 36 wickets tumbled in six sessions as the fourth Test ended inside two days with England winning by four wickets.

Australia stand-in captain Steve Smith admitted the pitch offered “a little too much.” “36 wickets, over two days, probably offered just a little bit too much,” he said. “Maybe if you took it down from 10mm to 8mm, it would have been a nice challenging wicket, but a little more even.”

The Ashes series so far has seen action only on 13 of the scheduled 20 match days. The first Test at Perth too ended inside two days with Australia winning by eight wickets.

“MCG have produced an ordinary pitch here. Can’t believe two out of the four Ashes Tests could end in two days. For all the hype, four Ashes Tests have happened in just 13 days,” said Kartik.

Observers noted the contrast with the heavy criticism Indian pitches face when spinners dominate, recalling the 2020-21 series when England crumbled against Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel in Chennai and Ahmedabad.

Former India opener Aakash Chopra was blunt: “This pitch is a joke. This is selling the game short. 26 wickets in 98 overs. Not a single over of spin in 1.5 days of a Test match. Imagine the meltdown if not a single over of pace was bowled that long in the subcontinent,” he wrote.

Both Australia and England entered the fourth Test without a frontline spinner and did not even use part-timers like Travis Head or Will Jacks.

Bad for business: CA
Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg admitted the Melbourne pitch was not a great advertisement for Test cricket. “Short Tests are bad for business. I can’t be more blunt than that. We want a balance between bat and ball. Yesterday slightly favoured the ball, but we’ve got challenges,” he told SEN Radio.