Former England captain Alastair Cook criticised the Melbourne pitch after 20 wickets went down on the opening day of the Ashes Boxing Day Test against Australia on Friday. Despite bowling Australia out for 152, England could only manage 110 in their first innings, handing the hosts a narrow 42-run lead. Josh Tongue bagged a five-wicket haul for England, but Michael Neser and Scott Boland shared seven wickets between them to flatten the visitors' hopes of taking any lead, let alone a big one.
Neser was Australia's top-scorer with 35, while vice-captain Harry Brook steered England past the 100-run mark with a 34-ball 41.
Speaking in a viral video, legendary England batter Cook offered his take on the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) pitch, saying that the track failed to offer a fair contest between bat and ball.
"This is not a great Test wicket. Unless this flattens out on days two, three and four, if we get there, then that was too heavily weighted in the bowlers' favour. The bowlers didn't have to work that hard for wickets," Cook said during a discussion on TNT Sports.
Cook also argued that while the batters can be criticised for their shortcomings, the tricky conditions made their job quite challenging.
"Could both sides have batted slightly better? Yes, but if you put the ball in the right area, it was going to nip either way. It was a bit of an unfair contest," he added.
Cook, however, praised Boland for the way he bowled to England's left-handers, highlighting his relentless accuracy.
"I was watching Boland, in particular, and I was thinking, 'I don't know how you face that'. To left-handers he was running in from around the wicket attacking the stumps, some were nipping miles one way, some nipping miles the other. I also don't know where you go as a right-hander. The pitch should flatten out tomorrow [Saturday] but the groundsman was telling me he doesn't think it will," Cook noted.