Melbourne
\nA fighting England won their first Test on Australian soil in 15 years Saturday, restoring their battered pride with a gutsy four-wicket victory to clinch a chaotic fourth Ashes clash that was all over inside two days.
\nThe pumped-up tourists dismissed Australia for 132 soon after lunch in front of a bumper 92,045 crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, following the 20 wickets that tumbled on day one.
\nIt left them chasing 175 to win, with Harry Brook unbeaten on 18 and Jamie Smith on three seeing them home for the loss of six wickets to huge roars from their travelling \u201cBarmy Army\u201d of fans.
\nJacob Bethell contributed 40 and Zak Crawley 37.
\n\u201cA good feeling, a tough tour up to now,\u201d said England skipper Ben Stokes.
\n\u201cAfter the build-up to the Test, a lot thrown our way, to put in a performance on the back of all that, and beat a very good Australian team, a lot of credit has to go to players, staff and management for keeping the focus on cricket.
\n\u201cVery proud. We showed bravery and were courageous.\u201d
\nEngland crashed in the first three Tests and came to Melbourne under enormous pressure amid questions about their limited preparations and allegations of excessive drinking during a mid-series beach break.
\nBut they finally came good and will head to Sydney for the fifth and final Test brimming with confidence.
\nEngland had not won a Test in Australia since January 2011 at Sydney, losing 16 and drawing two since, and openers Crawley and Ben Duckett had a clear objective to snap the streak \u2014 play ultra-aggressive \u201cBazball\u201d style.
\nDuckett hit a boundary off Mitchell Starc in his first over while Crawley slammed Michael Neser for a six and a four in successive balls.
\nThey brought up a whirlwind fifty opening partnership but next ball Duckett was bowled by a Starc yorker for 34.
\nFast bowler Brydon Carse then strode to the middle as a surprise number three in place of Bethell.
\nBut England\u2019s pinch-hitting experiment failed as Carse lasted only eight balls before skying Jhye Richardson to Cameron Green.
\nCrawley fell lbw to Scott Boland after a gritty knock and Bethell was caught by Usman Khawaja from the same bowler.
\nRichardson trapped Joe Root lbw for 15 and Starc accounted for Ben Stokes for two, but by then only 10 runs were needed and Brook and Smith completed the job.
\n\u201cIt was a tricky one, a quick game,\u201d said Australia captain Steve Smith.
\n\u201cIf we had got 50-60 more in both innings then things might have been different. The wicket played as expected, but once the ball softened, it didn\u2019t quite behave the way I\u2019d hoped.
\n\u201cWhen you see 36 wickets fall in two days, that probably tells you it did a bit more than intended,\u201d he added of the MCG pitch.
\nPitch criticised
\nAustralia resumed on 4-0 in their second innings after an explosive opening day of searing pace saw 20 wickets fall with the hosts dismissed for 152 and England just 110.
\nIt was the most wickets to tumble on the first day of an Ashes Test since 1909, and eclipsed the 19 on day one of the series opener in Perth.
\nWith 10 millimetres of grass on the track it was a bowler\u2019s dream, but a host of former greats criticised the pitch for \u201cdoing too much\u201d and being \u201cunfair for the batters\u201d.
\nNightwatchman Boland edged Gus Atkinson to wicketkeeper Smith but the bowler left the field soon after clutching his left hamstring.
\nJosh Tongue came into the attack on a hat-trick after bagging the last two Australia wickets on day one, but Jake Weatherald whipped his full ball for three.
\nWeatherald needed a decent knock to cement his spot at the top of the order, but he failed again, bowled by Stokes for five leaving a delivery that nipped back.
\nTravis Head was joined by Marnus Labuschagne but he only made eight, caught by Root in the slips off Tongue.
\nHead was in good touch before being bowled on 46 by a peach of a delivery from Carse that beat the outside edge, and when Khawaja (0) and Alex Carey (4) departed in the space of nine balls the momentum was back with England.
\nAfter reaching lunch at 98-6, Green (19) became the seventh wicket to fall with the score on 119, edging a rising Stokes ball to Harry Brook at slip.
\nCarse bagged Neser and Starc without scoring and Richardson fell to Stokes with the last four wickets tumbling for 13 runs, leaving Steve Smith unbeaten on 24.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Melbourne A fighting England won their first Test on Australian soil in 15 years Saturday, restoring their battered pride with a gutsy four-wicket victory to clinch a chaotic fourth Ashes clash that was all over inside two days. The pumped-up tourists dismissed Australia for 132 soon after lunch in front of a bumper 92,045 crowd […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-522503","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n