Former England captain Michael Vaughan has described England’s Boxing Day Test victory at the Melbourne Cricket Ground as a “lottery”, insisting the result should not be used as a benchmark for judging the success of the current Brendon McCullum–Ben Stokes regime. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Vaughan said England must now avoid a heavy defeat in the fifth and final Ashes Test in Sydney if the leadership group is to emerge from the tour without serious scrutiny. England had already conceded the Ashes after losing the first three Tests of the series before producing a surprise win in Melbourne. The match, however, was played on a highly bowler-friendly surface, saw all 36 wickets fall to pace, and was wrapped up inside two days, prompting Vaughan to question its value as a proper Test contest.
Josh Tongue starred for England at the MCG, finishing with match figures of 7 for 89, including 5-45 in the first innings. His effort made him the first England bowler in the 21st century to claim a five-wicket haul in a Boxing Day Test at Melbourne. The victory also ended England’s long wait for success in Australia, marking their first Test win Down Under since 2011 and snapping a drought that stretched beyond 5,000 days. Under head coach Brendon McCullum, England have now won 25 Tests and lost 17 from 45 matches. Despite acknowledging the significance of the Melbourne result, Vaughan said the upcoming Sydney Test carries far greater weight, arguing that England must prove they can win a full, competitive game of Test cricket. “I think it’s a massive game for England [in Sydney]. It’s nice to win a game of cricket, but let’s be honest, it was a complete lottery in Melbourne. It wasn’t a proper game of Test match cricket. For the future and for this management in particular, they need to win a strong game of cricket here … that’s not a two-dayer,” Vaughan said, as quoted by the Sydney Morning Herald. Vaughan suggested that while Stokes and McCullum are likely to continue in their roles, a strong showing in Sydney is necessary to remove any lingering doubt. He warned that a heavy loss would trigger difficult internal discussions. “For this management to carry on, the likes of Ben and Baz – I’m pretty sure they will carry on – but I think they need a good week for that to be absolutely rock solid. There’s a huge appetite within the group to keep [McCullum] on. But fundamentally, if they get pummelled in Sydney, there needs to be some honest conversations,” he added. The former skipper also urged England to avoid knee-jerk changes after the tour but stressed the importance of owning up to their mistakes. According to Vaughan, denying flaws would pose a greater long-term problem than poor results. “I think chopping and changing is not necessarily the right thing for English cricket. Whatever happens at the end of this tour, they’ve got to accept that they got a lot of things wrong. If they’re going to be so stubborn to think that they were a bit unlucky, or things didn’t quite go the way they wanted … well, we have a problem going forward. The key is maturity and that’s the one thing that I think this team can be a lot better at, in terms of the way they play and talk. If they can accept that, I have no problem with the management staying the same,” Vaughan said.
