Melbourne: England ended an 18-match winless streak in Australia and beat the home side by four wickets in the fourth Ashes test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Saturday.
England lost the first three tests to allow Australia to retain the Ashes in just 11 days of on-field action at Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide.
But England returned the favor by winning the MCG test Saturday inside two days, similar to Australia’s opening win at Perth.
It was the first time the same series has had multiple two-day tests in 129 years.
The England winless streak had dated to the 2013-14 Ashes series, which Australia won 5-0. Since England won the 2010-11 Ashes 3-1, England had lost 16 matches and drawn the other two of their 18 tests Down Under over a period of nearly 15 years.
Needing 175 second-innings runs to win and 98 after the tea break, England reached its target at 178-6 to clinch the match and send thousands of its long-suffering but faithful “Barmy Army” fans into frenzied celebration.
“It’s obviously been a tough tour up until now,” England captain Ben Stokes said. “The way that we did it was fantastic. It showed bravery, we were courageous in the way we operated.”
Stokes said a two-day result in a test match was “not ideal.”
“Being brutally honest, that’s not really what you want,” Stokes said. “Boxing Day test match, you don’t want a game finishing in less than two days.”
England raced to 70-2 off the first 10 overs in its second innings, losing the wickets of Ben Duckett (34) and Brydon Carse (6). Scott Boland removed Zak Crawley (37) and Jacob Bethell (40), who both made valuable contributions.
Joe Root (15) and Stokes (2) fell cheaply before Jamie Smith and Harry Brook guided the visiting side to a morale-boosting win ahead of the fifth and final test beginning Jan. 4 in Sydney.
“Ten runs has never felt so far away when I got out,” Stokes said. “I’ve been on a couple of tours before when it has not gone too well, so to end up on the right side of the result after a long period of time is a pretty special feeling.”
Earlier Saturday, England bowled out Australia out for 132 in its second innings after lunch on Day 2. On an MCG pitch offering substantial sideways movement for pace bowlers, England successfully chased down a target of 175 to win after 30 wickets had fallen in 4 1-2 sessions.
The dismissal of opener Travis Head (46) was quickly followed by the departures of Usman Khawaja (0) and Alex Carey (4) in the next two overs as Australia slumped from 82-3 to 88-6 in the morning session.
Stokes (3-24) claimed the important wicket of Cameron Green (19) after lunch, caught at second slip, and Brydon Carse sliced through the tail to finish with 4-34.
“They got off to a flyer,” Australia skipper Steve Smith said of England’s second-innings runs chase. “If we got 50 or 60 more across both innings, we might have been there in the end.”
Australia held an overall lead of 46 Friday after scoring 152, running through England for 110 in a dramatic first day
Josh Tongue, named player of the match, claimed a career-best 5-45 to lead England’s bowling attack Friday before Michael Neser grabbed 4-45 for Australia.
Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said Saturday that “short tests are bad for business,” and said CA would consider a closer role in pitch preparation in the future.
“Historically we have taken a hands-off approach in all of our wicket preparation and allowed the staff and the conditions and those characteristics to be presented,” Greenberg told SEN Radio. ”But it’s hard not to get more involved when you see the impact on the sport, particularly commercially.”
The attendance at the MCG on Saturday was 92,045, the second-highest test crowd in Australia, only behind Friday’s opening-day crowd of 94,199. Officials said 90,000 tickets had been sold for the now non-existent third day.
