Melbourne: Bowlers dominated proceedings on the opening day of the fourth Test of the Ashes series between Australia and England. After winning the toss in the Boxing Day Test, the visiting England side elected to bowl first, putting the hosts in to bat.
Australia were dismissed for just 152 runs in their first innings. Michael Neser was the top scorer with 35 runs, while Usman Khawaja contributed 29 and Alex Carey added 20. Only five Australian batters managed to reach double figures. For England, Josh Tongue was the standout performer with five wickets, while Gus Atkinson claimed two. Brydon Carse and captain Ben Stokes picked up one wicket each.
England’s reply with the bat also got off to a poor start, as they lost early wickets. Ben Duckett was dismissed for 2, Jacob Bethell for 1, and Zak Crawley for 5, while experienced batter Joe Root failed to open his account. From the Australian side, Mitchell Starc and Michael Neser took two wickets apiece.
Earlier, Australia’s batting collapse saw them lose six wickets for under 100 runs. Captain Steve Smith was unable to play a significant innings and returned to the pavilion after scoring just 9 runs off 31 balls. Smith is leading the side in this match in the absence of regular captain Pat Cummins, who is out of the team. Spinner Nathan Lyon is also unavailable due to fitness concerns.
