Big names hit out at MCG wicket

SOME of the biggest names in Ashes cricket have attacked the state of the MCG pitch after a record crowd saw 20 wickets fall on a Boxing Day blowout in Melbourne.

- 

An official crowd of 94,199 broke the attendance record at the country’s biggest sporting venue, eclipsing the 2015 World Cup final and setting a new high watermark for this historic rivalry.

But while they were treated to a flood of nonstop action on a green track that offered frequent and occasionally drastic sideways movement, the sight of both teams being bowled out in less than 76 overs may have been overkill.

Not since 1909 had two innings previously been completed on the first day of an Ashes Test.