5 interesting stats to emerge after the Ashes 2021-22 MCG Test
Australia crushed England by an innings and 14 runs to take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the Ashes 2021-22 series. The Aussies needed only seven sessions to register a win in the Boxing Day Test match.
Home captain Pat Cummins won the toss and invited the visitors to bat first. Despite Joe Root's half-century, England managed only 185 runs in the first innings. In reply, Australia scored 267 runs, riding on Marcus Harris' 189-ball 76.
Fans expected England to set a target of at least 100 or 150 runs for the home team, but Joe Root and Co. bowed down to Scott Boland. The debutant bowled a dream spell of 6/7 as Australia skittled England out for just 68 runs to win the Test by an innings.
On that note, let's take a look at the top five statistics to emerge from the Boxing Day Test match of the 2021-22 Ashes series.
#1 Shortest Test match on Australian soil in 70 years
Australia has turned this #Ashes into real ashes for the England team. With 1084 balls, this was the shortest completed match in Australia in last 70 years. #Boland
The Boxing Day Test of the 2021-22 Ashes series lasted for only 1,084 deliveries. Australia batted for 527 of those balls in their first innings, whereas England lost their 20 wickets in 557 deliveries.
Courtesy of England's disappointing batting performance, the MCG Test has become the shortest one played on Australian soil in the last 70 years.
#2 Scott Boland takes the joint-fastest five-wicket haul in Test cricket history
Scott Boland equalled the record for the fastest five-wicket haul in 19 balls. Ernie Toshack and Stuart Broad previously took five wickets in 19 ball
Fast bowler Scott Boland made his Test debut for Australia in the Boxing Day Test match. Playing at his home venue, the debutant bowled an incredible spell of 4-1-7-6 in the second innings.
He accounted for the wickets of Haseeb Hameed, Jack Leach, Jonny Bairstow, Joe Root, Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson. After taking Wood's wicket on the 19th delivery of his spell, Boland leveled the all-time record for the fastest Test five-wicket haul in terms of balls bowled in an innings.
In 1947, Australia's Ernie Toshack took 19 balls to take five wickets against India while England's Stuart Broad repeated that feat against Australia in 2015.
#3 Lowest first-innings lead for an Australian innings victory in Test cricket history
•Match lasted 1084 balls shortest test match played in Australia in 70 years.
•Third lowest lead for team to win a test by innings margin (82)
•Boland equalls record for fastest fifer in 19 balls.
Will Root remain England captain? Biggest question #Ashes2021
Australia took a first-innings lead of just 82 runs and won the match by an innings. This was the lowest first-innings lead taken by Australia in a Test where they recorded an innings win.
Overall, this was the third-lowest lead for any team winning by an innings margin, with the lowest being 46 by England against New Zealand in the 1955 Auckland Test.
#4 Scott Boland breaks Michael Clarke's 17-year-old record
Michael Clarke held the record for the least runs conceded by an Australian bowler in an innings where he took six or more wickets. He had bowled a spell of 6/9 against India in Mumbai back in 2004.
Scott Boland broke Clarke's record with a fiery spell of 6/7 in the second innings against England in the Ashes 2021-22. West Indies' Jermaine Lawson is the only bowler ahead of Boland on the all-time list. Lawson bowled a spell of 6/3 against Bangladesh in 2002.
#5 England break Australia's record for the most times all-out for sub-100 total in Test matches
Most times all-out for under 100 total in Test cricket:
39* - England 🏴
38 - Australia 🇦🇺
32 - South Africa 🇿🇦
26 - India 🇮🇳
26 - New Zealand 🇳🇿
The last time England had a higher count than Australia in this list was back in 1887.
#Ashes #AUSvENG
England were all out for only 68 runs in the second innings of the third Ashes Test. This was the 39th time in Test cricket history that England were all out for a total of less than 100 runs.
England now hold the number one spot in the list of teams with the most instances of getting all-out in a Test innings before the total touches triple digits.