England’s Josh Tongue with teammates during an Ashes Test match. (Image: AP/Hamish Blair) England steamrolled Australia and bowled out the hosts for 152 on the first day of the fourth Ashes Test as they seized early control at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Captain Ben Stokes won the crucial toss on the green and his pace trio attacked from the start as cloudy skies hung over the packed crowd.Openers Travis Head and Jake Weatherald fell cheaply for 12 and 10 respectively, while Marnus Labuschagne scrambled for 6 as Gus Atkinson and Josh Tongue found plenty of movement. Steve Smith tried to steady the innings but was dismissed for 9 when Tongue found his middle stump. England fans, the famous “Barmy Army”, celebrated as the hosts faltered.
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After lunch, Usman Khawaja (29), Alex Carey (20) and Cameron Green (17) put up a brief resistance before fading away. Neser led Australia’s scoring with 35, but the residual threat of the tongue produced five wickets for 45 runs.Australia had already clinched the series after comfortable wins in Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide, so England were hoping to salvage some pride in Melbourne. The tourists, criticized for their limited Ashes preparations, watched the urn slip away in 11 days amid controversy over off-field behavior during the mid-series beach break.Missing the injured Jofra Archer, England brought back Atkinson to open the bowling. The aggressive Head hit back-to-back boundaries off the wayward Brydon Cars, yet he fell for 22, the middle order getting another Atkinson. Weatherald didn’t last long either, peppering one to Jamie Smith off the first ball of Tongue and Labuschagne looking to slip where Joe Root took the catch.Smith and Khawaja calmed down briefly but the tongue struck again, removing the Australian captain and shifting the momentum towards England. The sun came out as the innings resumed after lunch and Khawaja lifted a sumptuous boundary off Atkinson, only for the next ball to fall on the edge to Smith; Carey then bowled Stokes to Zak Crawley in the gully.Green’s return to form was short-lived as he squeaked successive fours off Tongue, while Neser’s counter-strike in his fourth Test but first red-ball appearance came with three consecutive boundaries from the same bowler. Unfortunately, disaster struck again: Green was run out on 17 for a dodgy single and Stokes had a high catch at mid-on when Starc picked up Carse before Tongue dismissed Neser and Boland to end Australia’s innings.
