The Ashes: Recap the action from Day 2 of the Boxing Day Test between Australia and England

And after just 13 days of action, we are down to one Test remaining.

We will be back on January 4 for the New Year’s Test from the SCG.

Until then, happy holidays!

Stuart Broad was finally given something to smile about in the Coms box.

Australia are going to need to take a look at the batting line-up for Sydney but not just with that Test in mind but the future series to come in 2026 and 2027 as well.

And Ricky Ponting was not happy with what he has seen from Australia’s batters over the last two days.

“Steve Smith said just now in his interview, if we had 60 or 70 more runs across both innings it might have been enough, so they have only got themselves to blame with their batting today,” he said on Channel 7.

“Yes, it was difficult, but some of the dismissals we saw weren’t good enough for Test match cricket.”

Ben Stokes is a very happy man and the Bazball talk is out in force!

“I think that the way the cricket was played it was short and sharp and it was very, very, very tricky,” he said.

“And we looked to go out there and take the positive approach. It was heavily favoured towards the bowlers.

“The way that we went about today was exactly the right way of trying to chase it down. You can’t let good bowlers just run up and land it on the area that’s dangerous constantly and I thought the way we combated that was brilliant.

“Chasing down 170 the way that we did, I think was fantastic and showed bravery. You know, we were courageous in the way that we operated and it was definitly the way to go about it.

“It’s obviously been a tough tour up until now.

“We’re obviously over the moon we’ve been able to be on the right side of the result. It’s not only been a tough tour out here for us as a team but also everyone that’s come before us.

“So, to be part of a team that’s managed to win out here in Australia after a long period of time is a pretty good feeling.”

Steve Smith was very quick to admit he thought the pitch had too much in it for the bowlers post match.

“I think a little bit too much (towards the bowlers),” he said as the Barmy Army booed.

“It was tricky. I don’t think anyone really got in. When you see 36 wickets across two days, that’s probably too much.

“I think if we got 50 or 60 more across both innings then we might have been there at the end.

“Credit to England, they came out today and bowled really well this morning, didn’t let us get away, and then the way they started with the bat.

“They were very aggressive, put a few away and softened our ball a little bit and it probably didn’t offer as much from that point on.”

There had never been a series build-up quite like this one, but cricket bosses can scarcely afford another of these to go the way it has on the pitch, writes Jackson Barrett.

Josh Tongue is given Man of the Match honors for seven wickets, including a five-fer in the first innings.

This Test ended even faster than the opener in Perth.

In the first Test, an extra half hour was taken at the end of the slow over rate time but today, the game finished five minutes before the scheduled close of play.

England have broken a near 15-year hoodoo with their first Test victory on Australian soil since 2011.

It took another wild two-day Test but after all of the talk, their batsman finally stood up to be counted.

Australia were just too meek to start day two and will be wondering why they didn’t play with the agression.

But, well done to England for recovering after going 3-0 down.

England win by four wickets

Starc over steps and a no ball levels scores.