Cricket

[D1511]

Travis Head remarked how special it was going to be for him to open the batting for Australia in the Boxing Day test at the MCG.
I doubt he expected to do it twice on Boxing Day itself......

Brook's first ball after coming in at 16-4 was an utter disgrace, and shows they've learned nothing whatsoever from this sorry tour.......but at least Key, McCullum etc have stopped trying to gaslight us about it being just about the Aussies 'being better at key moments'.

Only if the 'key moments' are batting, bowling and fielding........

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

Let us not forget that the reason for the Ashes urn is not to commemorate some recent occurrence...

Isn't it the ashes of Bazball now

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

At lunch on Day 2, Australia were 98-6.

That means 26 wickets have fallen in the first four sessions of this Test Match.

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

England chasing 175. And trying thier hardest to not get there

This genuinely is one of the worst test matches for skill Ive ever seen. Its now basically a T20.

Either way it ends today.

 

[Purple Train]

Brydon Carse is batting at three. Stephan Shemilt on the BBC has just claimed his head has fallen off. I think mine has, too.

(Edit: Or is this just a hallucination and I have to go to sleep urgently?)

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

Brydon Carse is batting at three. Stephan Shemilt on the BBC has just claimed his head has fallen off. I think mine has, too.

(Edit: Or is this just a hallucination and I have to go to sleep urgently?)

Test Cricket is currently dead at the MCG.

This isnt test cricket its a circus

 

[Peeled Apples]

Less than 100 needed, can Emgland actually win?

 

[Purple Train]

Less than 100 needed, can Emgland actually win?

If they do - and I'm not hopeful - then obviously it's an excellent achievement given how terrible our record over the last 15 years has been. Doesn't make the missed opportunities any less infuriating, and it doesn't change my opinion that the current regime needs to change, but it would be nice to get that particular monkey off our back.

78 to win at the minute.

 

[Peeled Apples]

If they do - and I'm not hopeful - then obviously it's an excellent achievement given how terrible our record over the last 15 years has been. Doesn't make the missed opportunities any less infuriating, and it doesn't change my opinion that the current regime needs to change, but it would be nice to get that particular monkey off our back.

78 to win at the minute.

I agree if England do win it does not make up for the missed opportunities mainly the first test England were in such a strong position and blew it with a series of ridiculous shots, if they’d have won that match the series was there for the taking.

 

[Purple Train]

I agree if England do win it does not make up for the missed opportunities mainly the first test England were in such a strong position and blew it with a series of ridiculous shots, if they’d have won that match the series was there for the taking.

Indeed. Thankfully most of the cricket fans in my life are Australian (including some who have day three tickets!) so I have at least got some second-hand pleasure over the last few weeks. Not sure if I'll be able to face them after this match, win or lose...

Less than 50 to win now. Bethell has at least been playing reasonably well. I've been quite impressed with the way England have batted thus far - they've ridden their luck but seem to be keeping the scoreboard ticking without fireworks. Sensible Bazball.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Dec 2025 ==

Factoid that has just occurred to me: if England win, this will be their first victory in Australia since the thread was started in May 2012!

 

[Peeled Apples]

This will be a test where no one gets a fifty

 

[Purple Train]

Something that came up on TMS earlier: this Boxing Day match will, in certain parts of North America and points west, end on Boxing Day!

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 27 Dec 2025 ==

England win by 4 wickets.

And now I'm just going to take my headphones off and wait until I wake up to see how many they lost by...

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

Less than 100 needed, can Emgland actually win?

You tried to do your best Melbourne football club impersonation but you did by 4 wickets in the "test" match.

What an absolute clown show of a game

 

[Peeled Apples]

You tried to do your best Melbourne football club impersonation but you did by 4 wickets in the "test" match.

What an absolute clown show of a game

A two day test should never happen and this series has had two.

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

A two day test should never happen and this series has had two.

The first one was awful batting.

This one was batting and the pitch.

Today showed what it really should have been pitch wise.

CA is easily losing 11 million bucks just off those two games.

It was sold out for Day 3

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

Australia cannot be happy at being dismissed twice for low innings totals in a Test Match on their own turf.

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

Australia cannot be happy at being dismissed twice for low innings totals in a Test Match on their own turf.

* Looks outside the door of the pub *

Nope not at all happy.

 

[DelW]

You tried to do your best Melbourne football club impersonation but you did by 4 wickets in the "test" match.

What an absolute clown show of a game

Scores were levelled by a no ball and the match was won by leg byes

 

[Pakenhamtrain]

Scores were levelled by a no ball and the match was won by leg byes

For reference this is what I mean by England nearly doing a Melbourne.

Melbourne were 46 points up a 3/4 time and lost on the siren.

 

[Falcon1200]

Australia may have retained the Ashes, but at least it won't be 0-5 now, so well done England. The less said about Aussie technology and pitches the better, maybe...

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

When was the last time that Australia lost a Test Match to any side before the end of the second day?

 

[Trackman]

When was the last time that Australia lost a Test Match to any side before the end of the second day?

It was what I read! Source unknown, but chat GPT agrees

 

[backontrack]

Now if it wasn't for Snicko...

Only kidding.

 

[Haywain]

It was I read! Source unknown, but chat GPT agrees

It was what?

 

[Trackman]

It was what?

Thank you, updated.

 

[Haywain]

Thank you, updated.

Given that you responded to a question without giving an answer, you haven't made things any clearer.

 

[Mikey C]

Like an April pitch back home, where if you play correctly, you'll eventually be nicked off by Darren Stevens, so being ultra aggressive actually worked for England yesterday!

 

[DelW]

When was the last time that Australia lost a Test Match to any side before the end of the second day?

Based on the information on this page:

How many Test matches have finished in two days? Full list including shortest Ashes Tests and matches in Australia | Cricket News

With the 2025 MCG Boxing Day Test ending early, here's a look at how many Test matches have finished in two days in cricket history.

www.cricketnews.com

The last two-day test that Australia lost was at the Oval in 1890, with two previous examples in 1888. They've never previously lost within two days on home turf.

The tabular format of the site makes it difficult to provide a quote, but this is a screenshot of the relevant section:

 

[43096]

The tabular format of the site makes it difficult to provide a quote, but this is a screenshot of the relevant section:
View attachment 194909

I'd question the accuracy of that given they have Australia as the winner of the Melbourne test this week in the second table.

 

[DelW]

I'd question the accuracy of that given they have Australia as the winner of the Melbourne test this week in the second table.

So they have, though they've got it right in the first table