What awaits England in Melbourne? Lowdown on pitch, ground, state icon and Ashes history ahead of fourth Test against Australia
Published 25/12/2025 at 23:11 GMT
Heading into the fourth Ashes Test across the five host cities during the Australian summer, we look at the individual characteristics of Melbourne and the MCG, where the action will be taking place, as well as picking out the cricketing icon from the state and the best Ashes moment played there. The 2025/26 Ashes series is exclusively live in the UK on TNT Sports and discovery+.
Highlights: Australia wrap up Ashes series win as England's record chase falters
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Other cities in Australia press their claims, but no one can seriously deny Melbourne’s position as the country’s sporting capital.
Hosting a tennis Grand Slam, Formula 1 grand prix, the Melbourne Cup horse race and the Aussie Rules grand final would qualify it for this status, even if it did not have the most notable annual date on the sporting calendar - the Boxing Day NRMA Insurance men’s Ashes Test, with coverage starting at 11pm on Christmas day on TNT Sports and discovery+.
While the rest of the world sees the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) as a cricket venue - even before the Australian summer - the ground has hosted over three million spectators and over 51 Australian Rules fixtures this year, with the four biggest matches in the sport attracting over 90,000 attendees.
Around the world, only Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles has had more people through the gates in 2025, across 90 baseball games.
Partly due to the dominance of Australia on home soil, and its usual position as the fourth Test, there have not been many memorable Melbourne Tests in recent times - with this year yet another dead rubber as Australia lead the series 3-0.
Since 1998, when the Melbourne Test was set as the fourth in the series, only in England’s victorious 2010/11 tour did the series go into the match with everything to play for. It is forgotten after England’s two subsequent innings victories, but Mitch Johnson had destroyed the tourists in Perth in the third Test to level the scores at one apiece going into Boxing Day.
The pitch
Beyond the majesty of the Boxing Day occasion, in front of a nearly 100,000-capacity crowd, the MCG has rarely produced good matches.
And it has not been helped by the variety of wickets from the 2017 highway (which received an ICC warning), which helped Alastair Cook back to form and enabled England to prevent a whitewash with a draw. Better batting pitches followed, but after two defeats in three years to India, grassier pitches suiting the home three-pronged pace attack were curated.
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A general view of the pitch ahead of game one of the Men's One Day International series between Australia and Pakistan at Melbourne Cricket Ground on November 04, 2024 in Melbourne, Australia.
Image credit: Getty Images
It is a ground where England have a comparatively decent record, though, with four wins and a draw from the 11 contests over the last 45 years.
The last two years have seen more traditional bat-first pitches, and Australia will certainly choose to face up if they win the toss. England, given their good second innings in Adelaide, likely wanting Jacob Bethell to familiarise himself with the surroundings before taking guard after replacing Ollie Pope at No. 3, and the fact they will not have to face Nathan Lyon in Tests four and five, may see them bowling first.
Memorable moment - The King's crowning glory
I was privileged enough to be at the MCG on Boxing Day when Shane Warne took his 700th wicket, typically tempting Andrew Strauss into a false shot with some vocal encouragement and an open gap at mid-wicket before bowling him through the gate and wheeling away in iconic triumph.
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Shane Warne of Australia celebrates taking his 700th wicket during day one of the fourth Ashes Test Match between Australia and England at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 26, 2006 in Melbourne, Australia. Warne bowled Andrew Strauss to reach the milestone.
Image credit: Getty Images
It was a moment accompanied by the biggest cheer they had ever heard at the Colosseum, according to some experienced Victorian observers.
In truth, his performance forcing England into defeat in the ‘unlosable’ Test on the last day at Adelaide earlier in the summer was his last great moment. But in front of his adoring home fans in Melbourne, shortly after announcing his intention to retire at the end of the series, being the first cricketer to reach the 700 milestone and then soon afterwards, walk off the field holding the ball, taking five wickets, was a moment he himself declared as his favourite from his career.
State Icon - Shane Warne
Victoria had many loved players before Warne. There was swashbuckling, international playboy Keith Miller and the Australia skipper, then the nation’s favourite commentator, Bill Lawry.
And while a little down the pecking order in the list of Australia’s best in their respective disciplines, few were adored like Dean Jones and Merv Hughes.
Jones’ attacking play and gutsy performances led to banners being held up to ‘Bring Back Deano’ at international matches at the MCG for many years after he was dropped, in the eyes of locals, prematurely.
Then there was Hughes with his bristling moustache and snarling, bouncer-heavy barrage directed at opposition bowlers, making him the most popular bowler of the post-Dennis Lillee era.
It was his exaggerated warm-ups as he prepared to bowl, in front of the raucous Bay 13 stand, where fans behind copied his every move, which is an abiding memory of his.
No one comes close to Warne, though.
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A view of Shane Warne's statue at Gate 1 of the MCG during Day 2 of the Boxing Day Test - Day 2 match between Australia and Pakistan at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 27, 2023 in Melbourne, Australia.
Image credit: Getty Images
He is sometimes seen as reviving the art of leg spin bowling, which is pretty unfair on Pakistan 1980s great Abdul Qadir, and not particularly accurate, as no Australian leg-spinner since his team-mate - and sometimes rival - Stuart MacGill has been a first-choice tweaker, while in England even the prodigious talents of Adil Rashid did not see him ever get an Ashes berth.
Instead, Warne was a comet. After being released by his beloved St Kilda, he brought with him the verbal aggression from Aussie Rules as he committed to engulfing the smaller red ball within his huge fingers.
When taking away the words, bleached hair and off-field shenanigans, he was a fairly conventional leg spinner, rarely bowled the magical flipper, especially in the second half of his career, but possessed a control no other spinner has managed, along with a mastery of reading, befuddling and setting up batsmen.
His Test debut at the MCG came in 1992, a year which began with Australian cricket disappointing as hosts of the World Cup, when his 7-52 took them to a Test victory over the number-one ranked West Indies and convinced him he was worthy of a spot in the team. Just over six months later came the Gatting ball made him the game’s new and most charismatic superstar.
A distaste for Warne's numerous scandals sometimes led to mixed feelings towards him beyond the cricket ‘nuffies', but after his death in 2022, the Great Southern Stand at the MCG was named in his honour, and he now stands revered as the state’s greatest sporting son.
Australia's record at MCG
Tests: 117
Australia wins: 68
Defeats: 32
Draws: 17
Australia wins: 68
Defeats: 32
Draws: 17
Ashes record
Australia win: 29
England win: 20
Draws: 8
England win: 20
Draws: 8
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Watch every ball of the Ashes live on TNT Sports and discovery+
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