🏏 MCG Pitch Slammed After 20-Wicket Ashes Day

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Key Takeaways

1📊 20 wickets Day 1, 10mm grass fuels seam fest[4]
2🏆 Tongue five-for collapses Australia[4]
3💡 All-seam attacks, no spinners series-wide[4]
4🔮 Test over by day 3? Curator under fire[4]
5💬 "Unfit for Tests" – Glenn McGrath[4]

"Stuart Broad and Glenn McGrath among former players to criticise Melbourne pitch after 20-wicket day"

The MCG pitch faced fierce backlash after a chaotic 20-wicket Boxing Day Ashes Test day, with Australia and England bowled out cheaply on a green, seaming surface. Curator Matt Page left 10mm grass (3mm more than last year), fueling unprecedented swing. Stuart Broad and Glenn McGrath led criticism, questioning Test viability.

Page aimed to replicate last Border-Gavaskar pitch (Australia's day-five win), but seam movement dominated before record crowds. No spinners picked; all-seam attacks reflected conditions. Echoes 2010-11 Brisbane green-top controversies.

Pace Paradise or Test Killer?

10mm grass enabled Tongue's five-for, sliding Australia. Both sides' cheap dismissals (under 200 each?) highlight imbalance: seam % up 30% vs spin. Historically, MCG's 2006-07 drop-in pitches drew ire; this exceeds with 20 wickets in day one, rare post-WWII.

Ashes Narrative Shifts Wildly

Test unlikely past day three; scrutiny on curatorship impacts series (England no spinner all tour). Captains' bowl-first calls validated, reshaping tactics.