The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England ended within two days. After this, former England cricketer Kevin Pietersen and former Indian cricketer Dinesh Karthik raised questions regarding the Melbourne pitch. 20 wickets fell on the first day of this test and 16 wickets fell on the second day. England won the Melbourne Test by 6 wickets and ended their 14-year winning drought in Australia.

Former England captain Kevin Pietersen wrote on social media X, ,In India, when many wickets fall on the first day of a Test match, India always has to face severe criticism. So I hope Australia will also face the same kind of criticism. Justice should be equal for everyone.,

The decision to leave 10 mm grass on the Melbourne Cricket Ground pitch greatly benefited the fast bowlers, making it difficult to bat. England won this match by 4 wickets. The first three matches of the Ashes also lasted for a total of 11 days. In this way, in the current series, out of total 20 match days, only 13 days have been played. The first Test match played in Perth also ended in two days.

Former Indian batsman Dinesh Karthik said, ,MCG pitch looks ordinary. It is unbelievable that out of the four Ashes Tests, two were over in just two days. Despite so much discussion, four Ashes Tests were completed in just 13 days.,

Pietersen and Karthik’s comments were based on the fact that Indian spinners and pitches often face severe criticism when this happens in the subcontinent. For example, England’s failure to face the Indian spinners on the turning pitch in Ahmedabad during the 2020-21 series was heavily criticized by experts.

The England team then won the first Test in Chennai, but in the next three Test matches, its batting flopped badly against Ravichandran Ashwin and Axar Patel, but in the Ashes, there has not been much resentment regarding the pitches being favorable for fast bowlers.

The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England was played in Melbourne, which could not last even for 2 days. On the second day of this match, there was a lot of ruckus regarding the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne. Labuschagne was out in the second innings after scoring 8 runs in 18 balls, but there was a lot of uproar over whether Joe Root caught him cleanly or not. Was this one catch the reason for Australia’s defeat? Know here what is this whole controversy.

This incident is of the 18th over of Australia’s second innings. Josh Tong came to bowl and the very first ball of the over took the edge of the bat and went into slip. Joe Root, who was in the slip position, took the catch, after which the entire England team appealed. Labuschagne did not even move from his place because he had a suspicion in his mind that the catch had not been taken properly.

The ground umpire left the decision to the third umpire. After examining the video review from different angles, the third umpire admitted that Joe Root’s fingers were under the ball, hence Labuschagne was declared out. Labuschagne, on the other hand, looked unhappy with this decision and returned to the dressing room disappointed.

What did you make of this catch? Out or not out?#Ashes , #DRSChallenge , @Westpac pic.twitter.com/pnWo2qt6qc

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) December 27, 2025

Test match ended in 142 overs, England won

The fourth Ashes Test played in Melbourne ended in just 142 overs of play. In a Test match, 90 overs are bowled in a day, so you can imagine how the fast bowlers wreaked havoc on both the days of the match. Australia’s first innings was all out for 152 runs, but in response, England’s batting unit was all out for just 110 runs, giving Australia a lead of 42 runs in the first innings.

Australia scored 132 runs in the second innings, giving England a target of 175 runs. England achieved this target with 4 wickets remaining.

After defeating Australia in Melbourne within two days, England captain Ben Stokes made a big statement. England’s victory is special in many ways. In fact, after 14 years the English team has won a test match on Australian soil. Whereas Ben Stokes has won Test matches as captain in Australia after 13 Test matches. England won by 4 wickets in the fourth test of the Ashes series played in Melbourne. For England, which has lost the series, this victory is going to boost its confidence. England captain Ben Stokes said that he feels very good after the victory. For this, the players of the team have worked hard.

What did Stokes say on winning the Test in Australia after 14 years?

After the victory in the fourth Test, Ben Stokes said, “The victory feels really good. Everyone worked very hard for this. This victory is very special. We play not just for ourselves, but for a lot of people. Wherever we go in the world, we get tremendous support. The noise, the slogans, the sounds. We all hear and feel it. I know a lot of our fans will be excited right now.”

He further added, “A lot happened before this match, but the boys coming out on the field, staying focused, and the way they performed, says a lot about this team. Huge credit to the players, support staff and management that they focused on what was important. We knew it was not an easy chase. There was a lot on the pitch and the bowlers were always in the game. The message was to be positive, not let the bowlers settle, and run them. “Keep hitting. I thought the intent and discipline we showed was great. It took courage, but the boys handled it very well.”

Account of the fourth test match

In this Test match played in Melbourne, Australia had scored only 152 runs in its first innings. However, after this the Kangaroos bundled out the British for 110 runs. In this way Australia achieved a significant lead of 42 runs in the first innings. However, in the second innings the Australian team could score only 132 runs and gave England a target of 175 runs. These runs seemed to be quite a lot on a bowler-friendly pitch, but in the second innings, Jack Crawley 37, Ben Duckett 34 and Jacob Bethel played brilliant innings of 40 runs for England. The English team chased the target by losing 6 wickets. In bowling, Josh Tong took five wickets in the first innings and two wickets in the second innings for England. Josh Tong ,player of the match, Chosen.

England has got its first win in the 2025-26 Ashes series. After losing the first three Tests, England won the fourth Test. England has won in Australia after almost 14 years. The fourth Ashes Test played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground ended within just two days. In this match, the England team was all out for just 110 runs in its first innings. Even after this the English team won the match by 4 wickets.

In this Test match played in Melbourne, Australia had scored only 152 runs in its first innings. However, after this the Kangaroos bundled out the British for 110 runs. In this way Australia achieved a significant lead of 42 runs in the first innings. However, in the second innings the Australian team could score only 132 runs and gave England a target of 175 runs. These runs seemed to be quite a lot on a bowler-friendly pitch, but in the second innings, Jack Crawley 37, Ben Duckett 34 and Jacob Bethel played brilliant innings of 40 runs for England. The English team chased the target by losing 6 wickets. In bowling, Josh Tong took five wickets in the first innings and two wickets in the second innings for England. Josh Tong ,player of the match, Chosen.

England won after 5468 days

close to australia 5468 The day England won. Before this, England last won the Sydney Test in Australia on 7 January 2011. England played cricket in baseball style in the second innings. The British won the match by scoring 178 runs in 32.2 overs. England captain Ben Stokes has won on Australian soil after 13 Tests.

No batsman from both the teams could score a half century

It was also interesting in the fourth Test match played in Melbourne that the batsmen of England and Australia could not score half-centuries in both the innings. A total of 572 runs were scored in this match, but no one scored a fifty. This amazing record has been made in the history of the Ashes series.

The fourth Ashes Test between Australia and England is being played in Melbourne. 20 wickets fell on the very first day of the match and by the end of the first day’s play, Australia had scored 4 runs in the second innings without losing any wicket. A new history has been written on the very first day of this match, because this is the first time in the history of the Ashes in the last 123 years that 20 or more wickets have fallen on the very first day of a Test match in Melbourne.

20 wickets fell on the first day

In the fourth Ashes Test, England won the toss and chose to bowl first. The Melbourne pitch was so bad for batting that within no time Australia lost 4 wickets till the score was 51. Somehow the team crossed 100 runs. In the end the Kangaroo team’s innings was reduced to 152 runs.

When the England team came to bat, its condition was worse than Australia. England had lost 4 wickets within 16 runs. Thanks to Harry Brook’s 41 runs and Gus Atkinson’s 28 runs, the England team somehow reached the score of 110. Let us tell you that all these 20 wickets were taken by fast bowlers.

This feat happened after 123 years

The last time 20 or more wickets fell on the first day of a Test played in Melbourne was in 1902. At that time 25 wickets had fallen on the very first day of the match. This is a world record in MCG stadium history. The maximum number of wickets fell in the matches between Australia and England on the first day of a Test match. In 1888, 27 wickets fell on the first day of the England vs Australia Lord’s Test.

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Australia has dominated the Ashes series so far. So far, Australia has won all three Test matches, whereas England has not even come remotely close to winning any match. The fourth Ashes Test will be played in Melbourne from 26 December. Even before the fourth Test was played, Australia has announced the last 12 players, in which the team’s regular captain Pat Cummins is not included. In his absence, Steve Smith will be seen captaining.

Australia vs England The third Ashes Test was played in Adelaide, in which Steve Smith did not play. Smith is making a comeback and will be the captain of the team in the absence of Pat Cummins. Let us tell you that this will be the last test match between any teams for the year 2025. Fast bowler Jhay Richardson has returned, who has not played any Test match for Australia after 2021.

In the press conference held before the fourth Test, Steve Smith told that he will captain the Australian team in the last two Test matches. Pat Cummins is out of the series due to injury. Smith has also clarified the situation regarding the batting position of Usman Khawaja. Usman Khawaja will play at number 5 in the fourth Test, but he also said that the playing eleven will be selected from these 12 players on the morning of the match.

Captain Smith also made it clear that Australia will play with 4 fast bowlers and there will be no spinner in the playing eleven. Travis Head, who played a memorable inning of 170 runs in the second innings of Adelaide Test as an opener, can also open in Melbourne.

Australia’s 12 players for the fourth test: Travis Head, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Usman Khawaja, Alex Carey (wk), Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Scott Boland, Brendon Doggett, Michael Neser, Jhye Richardson.

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