Four Tests In 13 Days! The Record-Breaking Numbers From The Melbourne Ashes Test Will Leave You Stunned

Melbourne: England’s victory over arch-rivals Australia in the fourth Ashes Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Saturday brought the series to a dramatic conclusion filled with extraordinary twists. However, what transpired in this match may have far-reaching implications in the months and years ahead. Such ultra-short Test matches are increasingly seen as damaging to the very fabric of Test cricket, and the historic MCG has now become a witness to this worrying trend.

Several unprecedented records were created as the five-day Test was wrapped up in just over two days. Even more astonishing is the fact that all four Tests of the current Ashes series were completed in just 13 days. The Perth Test ended in two days, the Brisbane Test lasted four days, the Adelaide Test went the full five days, and now the Melbourne Test too was finished in just two days.

The match began on Friday and was all over shortly after tea on Saturday. Under Ben Stokes’ leadership, England chased down a target of 175, reaching 178 for six to seal a memorable win.

Melbourne Test: Records That Rewrote History

1. England waited nearly 15 years (5,468 days) to win a Test in Australia, and when the opportunity finally came, they sealed victory in just two days. Since January 2011, England had played 18 Ashes Tests on Australian soil, losing 16 and drawing two. The win finally came in their 19th Test.
   
2. Before the current Ashes series, 450 Tests had been played in Australia, of which only two (against West Indies in 1931 and South Africa in 2022) were completed in two days. This time, however, two Tests in a single series Perth last month and Melbourne now were finished within two days. In Ashes history, a two-day Test last occurred in 1921, making this the first such instance in over a century. Remarkably, for the first time since 1896, two matches in a single Test series between two teams ended inside two days.
   
3. The Australian team managed to bat for just 479 balls in the Melbourne Test. The only previous instance of fewer balls faced was in the 1928 Brisbane Test, when Australia lasted 457 balls.
   
4. Australia’s total of 284 runs in this Test is the second-lowest they have ever recorded in a Test match at Melbourne. Their lowest came in 1928, when they were bowled out for 246.
   
5. Joe Root endured 17 consecutive Tests in Australia without a win before finally tasting victory at Melbourne.
   
6. For the first time since 1981 (after 44 years), a team won an Ashes Test without a single batsman scoring a half-century. Overall, England won a Test without any individual fifty for the first time in 25 years.
   
7. In the 148-year history of Test cricket in Australia, this was the first Test in which a spinner did not bowl a single over throughout the entire match.
   
8. This was the 2,615th Test match in cricket history. With the Melbourne Test included, a total of 27 Tests have now been completed inside two days.