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Broad slams MCG pitch as 20 wickets fall on Day 1
Lachlan Geleit • December 26th, 2025 8:20 pm
Former England quick Stuart Broad didn’t like what he saw from the MCG pitch on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test.
20 wickets fell after England won the toss and chose to bowl first, with 10mm of grass being kept on a pitch that wasn’t exactly baked in the sun in recent days.
Those conditions, some tight bowling and aggressive batting, meant that both teams were skittled on Boxing Day. Australia first for 152 and England in just one session for 110.
It was the first time in 74 years that 20 wickets had fallen on Day 1 of a Test match down under.
While the carry through to the keeper was good to see, Broad thinks that the ball simply moved sideways far too much.
"The pitch is doing too much if I'm brutally honest. Test match bowlers don't need this amount of movement to look threatening," Broad said on SEN Cricket.
"Great Test match pitches generally, they bounce, but they don't jag all over the place."
Australia’s bowlers were the beneficiaries of that movement late on Day 1, with Michael Neser (4/35), Scott Boland (3/30) and Mitchell Starc (2/23) all making the most of the conditions.
Day 2 begins at 10:30 am (AEDT) on Saturday at the MCG. With nightwatchman Boland and Travis Head due at the crease with Australia 0/4, 46 runs ahead of England.
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