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By Jon Healy
By Simon Smale
Topic:Ashes
Australia and England meet in front of a massive MCG crowd on Boxing Day as England looks to salvage some pride having already lost the series.
Follow all the action in our live blog below, check out all the scores and stats in our full Test scorecard, and listen to the live radio call.
By Simon Smale
By Simon Smale
The thought process might be that Carse is better against right handed batters.
Three slips, a gully, they've dispensed with the leg slip for now and Carse comes in and bowls outside off, good line and Marnus has to leave tightly.
EDGED! Down short of second slip! Carse is much better against the righty's.
Marnus defends down in front of him and takes off for a quick single. Carse expresses frustration that the batters got through with that single.
Carse averages 40.7 against left handers and 22.9 against righties, so there is a big discrepancy and perhaps why he was so much keener to play against Marnus for a bit.
Better from Carse, Weatherald leaving outside off but he was tempted to have to play at it, a good line from Carse.
Weatherald defends off his pads for the last.
By Simon Smale
Atkinson has made the breakthrough and will look to try and make it a quick double for England with Marnus Labuschagne out in the middle.
Atkinson comes in and Marnus drives but that's a great one-handed stop in his follow through by Atkinson.
Marnus defends the next one.
SHOT! Carse has to give chase down to long on after a lovely driven shot from Labuschagne down the ground – there was a bit of inswing there that he dealt with nicely. They run three but it could have been an all-run four really.
Solid defence from Weatherald.
SWING AND A MISS! Well wide from Atkinson and Weatherald almost fell into the trap but having a huge heave at it – missing getting an edge though.
By Simon Smale
Travis Head chops on!
Atkinson has been bowling pretty well, getting the ball in the right area in that corridor of uncertainty. Head looked to cut that one away, as he so often does, but gets an inside edge, and the ball cannons into the stumps.
Boy did England need that, with Carse bowling pies at one end, it needed Atkinson's consistency to get a reward, and that's exactly what's happened. Well bowled!
Australia 1-27, Head out for 12 off 22.
By Simon Smale
By Simon Smale
FOUR! Too full now – it's a fine line between too short and too full, and this time it's the latter, Head driving through cover for four runs.
FOUR MORE! Same delivery, same shot for Head. Great shot.
Now Carse comes short and leg side, so Head clips him away for a single to midwicket.
Outside off, left alone by Weatherald.
Straight, punches into the ground and over Carse and down to long off for a couple.
FOUR! Wide, outside off, too full and it's Weatherald's turn to smash the rubbish Carse is delivering towards the rope.
By Simon Smale
About to board a flight from Port Moresby to Brisbane. Expect to see Australia 150 runs for 0 wickets when I disembark in about 4 hours time
– PNG Pete
It's looking good so far, PNG Pete.
Very, very safe so far.
By Simon Smale
Outside off, left alone by Atkinson.
Tight leave outside off this time, better line from Atkinson.
Again, good line from Atkinson but it's all comfortably left by Weatherald – England needs this consistency but on balls that genuinely threaten.
Weatherald cuts hard and Bethell dives at gully and makes the stop.
Another half-good ball that keeps the batter thinking, but it's too short to threaten.
Outside off, left alone to end.
A maiden for Atkinson but not hugely threatening.
By Simon Smale
Good stop at gully from Bethell, diving, reaching and stopping a fended ball towards him by Weatherald.
Head leaves the next.
Carse is getting the ball to nip in off the deck, which could be dangerous if he was able to do this consistently. Head is just not sure about how much deviation it's going to get off the seam, and that's creating a hint of doubt in his mind.
Head leaves outside off.
On the leg side, Head clips beautifully to deep square leg for a couple. It was uppish past Duckett under the helmet at short leg.
APPEAL! I think it's a thigh pad as Carse goes down leg side, short and uppish – there's no bat involved in that.
"They're bowling for leg-side dismissals. Merry Christmas if you're a batter" – Darren Lehmann.
By Simon Smale
Better, but still a bit short from Atkinson as Weatherald shoulders arms and leaves on length as the ball fizzes across the face of him from over the wicket.
Better, Weatherland defends solidly.
Nicely played from Weatherald, just a punch through the covers for a couple.
Good from Atkinson, just outside off – Weatherald alert to the uncertainty playing at a ball like that provides, and leaves it alone.
Weatherald clips off his hip and gets a single.
Good ball from Atkinson, proving to the England hierarchy why he should have played in Adelaide instead of Carse, has Head leaving outside off.
By Simon Smale
He's not been good all series, Carse, but he's getting another chance with the new ball.
Well, that's a poor start, down the leg side and wide. Oh my goodness, it's a no-ball as well. What a start from Carse.
BEATEN! That's a bit better, the ball nipping back, and Head wafted at it, and the ball just misses the outside of the bat.
Down leg side, off the thigh pad, and it's four leg byes. There was movement off the deck there — if he can put the ball up a bit, he'd be dangerous.
There is a leg slip in place now, goodness me, a field for the poor delivery already, three balls into his first spell.
The ball hits the pad, and there is an appeal, but there's nothing there.
Solid defence from Head as Carse finally gets one to go near the stumps.
CLOSE! Short ball, Head went to pull and only just missed getting an edge or glove on it, though to the keeper.
And again, he bowls one down the leg side, a waste of a ball, and it's a poor start for Carse.
By Simon Smale
Good carry outside off from Gus Atkinson. Needs to pitch the ball up early on.
And probably on the off side to be honest as he sends one down leg side.
That's moved a bit off the deck, and Head is beaten, the ball hitting him high on the thigh pad.
And now he hits the deck, and Head pops the ball up to short square leg.
It's still too short. It has to be fuller. Much fuller.
CLOSE! Head comes so close to chopping on as he cuts a ball that looked a tad close to cut. He gets a single. It was close but, again, it's too short.
Short leg comes in as the sun comes out and Weatherald leaves outside off, good carry and zip off the pitch, but a largely unthreatening over in terms of really attacking the Aussie batters.
By Simon Smale
Here's more from the experts in the ABC Sport commentary box.
"I think the wicket's going to offer something all match. It's going to do a little bit sideways with the 10mm grass," Stuart Clark says.
"There will be enough sideways movement … but it's all about their length."
Dizzy Gillespie thinks England will need to be patient, though.
"I think there needs to be more trust with his bowlers and more patience from the bowlers," he says.
" You'll see a lot of play-and-misses today, but it might do too much."
By Simon Smale
Happy Christmas ABC blog team ! It's a very cold morning here in northern Tassie. If it's similar north, just across the moat, I'd want to be bowling just to keep warm and playing in 2 sweaters and a down jacket.
– Old timer
Welcome, Old timer,
Looks an awful lot like early season County Championship cricket out there, to be honest — apart from the 95,000 people in the cavernous stands, that is.
There are long-sleeved jumpers on the players, the crowd is wrapped up warm, and there are clouds obscuring the sun — beautiful English conditions!
Can the tourists do anything with it?
By Simon Smale
By Simon Smale
Aunty Joy is conducting the Welcome to Country as the crowd masses at the MCG.
Then it's God Save the King, and Advance Australia Fair.
By Simon Smale
Dizzy Gillespie has been talking on ABC Sport radio, where you can listen to ball-by-ball action.
He has pointed out that externally, how England has gone about this tour has not been the best.
"The messaging, the optics, haven't been great," he says.
"If you're winning, those things [the Noosa trip] get masked over, but when you're losing, they get amplified."
Haven't they just.
By Simon Smale
Is it correct that since January 2022 Usman Khawaja has scored more Test runs and more Test centuries than any other Australian batsman?
– Chris
Hi Chris,
Almost correct!
In that time span, Khawaja has scored 3,290 runs, averaging 47.00 with eight hundreds and 15 fifties.
Next is Travis head (2,941 at 43.25), and Steve Smith third (2.913 at 46.23).
So yes, he has scored more runs at a higher average.
BUT he's not scored the most hundreds.
Steve Smith had tonned-up nine times to Khawaja's eight. Head has also scored eight hundreds.
He has scored more half centuries than anyone else, though.
By Simon Smale
Steve Smith is the stand-in captain for the Australian team once again.
He laughs when he is asked whether he'd have liked to play on what was a great batting track in Adelaide – but his eyes aren't smiling…
"Nice to be back," he says.
"I would have [bowled]. A bit of grass on the wicket, we're playing four quicks.
"The batters are going to have to be on their game, put pressure on when they need to."
It's really interesting to see how England's bowlers go in these conditions – because, as Michael Vaughan has just said, a team could get blown away in these conditions.
He is predicting a "plethora of wickets" in the day.
By Simon Smale
Brendan Doggett is the man to miss out, says Steve Smith.
That means Australia will line up like this:
It's Jhye Richardson's first Test since the 2021 Adelaide Ashes Test.
Australia won that one by 275 runs, and Richardson, after going wicketless in the first innings, took 5-42 in the second innings.
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