‘The toss didn’t go our way’ – Jonny Bairstow rues losing toss for England’s batting collapse in Melbourne

England wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow feels losing the toss was one of the reasons for the team’s batting collapse on Day 1 of the Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. The Joe Root-led side was once again dismissed for a below-par score.  “When you look at the toss that obviously didn’t go our way. We’d have also looked to bowl in that first session,” Bairstow said.

However, Root showed runs were not impossible to score on the surface. He top-scored for his team with a classy 50 but failed to convert it into a big hundred. Apart from Root, Bairstow scored 35 and helped his side reach 185. The duo got very little support from the rest of the batters as Australia perfectly exploited favourable bowling conditions.

England got off to a horrific start and lost their openers when the score was just 13. Dawid Malan and Joe Root tried to stabilize the innings but Malan’s wicket triggered a collapse. Bairstow admitted that losing Malan at the stroke of Lunch was a big turning point.

“Yes, we lost a couple of early wickets but the partnership between Dawid [Malan] and Joe [Root] was really good again. We were naturally disappointed to lose Dawid on the stroke of lunch. It potentially changes things if that doesn’t go down then.”

Meanwhile, Australia have taken a big lead in the game. The team has scored 67 runs for the loss of David Warner and look set for a big first inning score. England bowlers will have to deliver a big show in the first session of Day 2 to bring the visitors back in the game.