Ashes latest: Jacob Bethell and Josh Tongue shine for England in MCG win

Amid the carnage of a two-day Boxing Day Test match – and carnage is exactly what it was – there was one man who gave England’s high-octane run chase a semblance of calm.

It wasn’t Joe Root, next stop 14,000 Test runs, or a man who has seen it all, the captain no less, Ben Stokes. No, it was 22-year-old Jacob Bethell.

It’s been a rollercoaster tour for the young man. In fact, it’s been a rollercoaster year. First plucked from The Hundred to bat at number three on last winter’s tour of New Zealand, Bethell has found his opportunities limited since looking every inch a star in the making in that series.

Forced to wait in the wings while Ollie Pope clung to his spot at first drop, Bethell’s lack of activity and a poor game when finally getting a gig at the Oval at the end of July meant his stock had seemingly fallen off a cliff.

But not with England’s management who, while making plenty of selection blunders, deserve plenty of credit for this one. Yes, he might not have strong domestic numbers behind him, or very little County Championship experience full stop, but there is something very special about Jacob Bethell.

Videos circulating on social media last week saw Ben Duckett worse for wear on a night out after England’s first Test defeat in Perth, and young Bethell didn’t escape the camera phones as he also enjoyed his downtime.

Comparisons have already been made with Bethell and David Gower, another silky left-hander with a gorgeous cover drive, and there was something Gower-esque about watching Bethell sat in a bar tooting on a vape (they are really bad for you, you know).

As for his awkward dance to the Y.M.C.A. while trying his hardest to woo one of the locals, well, perhaps we should swiftly get back to the cricket.

And where Bethell is concerned, the cricket was good. The first innings was a baptism of fire, but his second-innings 40, the top score in what was a high-pressure run-chase, was the difference between the two teams as England ended a 15-year drought in Australia.

Maybe Bethell’s style will always lull those watching into a false sense of security, but he was the only player who ever looked to have any control on a wicket consistently offering lavish sideways movement and good pace for the seamers.

In truth, those seamers enjoyed a couple of field days. When the likes of Root and Steve Smith look devoid of ideas across four innings, you know things are tough, but Bethell appeared more confident than both, more composed, and with a greater range of options to negate the huge advantages placed in favour of the bowlers.

It was a far cry from his predecessor at number three, and even when things went off course, be it an ungainly hack second ball that brought him four over the cordon, Bethell still cut a calm figure, at least giving the impression that he had matters in hand.

Where Pope was frenetic and obviously nervous, Bethell still had that cocksure strut about him – which is quite something after the year he’s had. And then, from only his fourth delivery, he strode out to meet Scott Boland and unfurled the most picture-perfect drive through long-on for four.

There were a few more hairy moments, but another drive for four off Boland, this time through the covers, was followed by a rasping pull shot off Michael Neser. All class. The scoop shot came out and, for the first time, Australian bowlers were knocked off stride as Bethell scored at almost a run a ball.

The tide had turned, as had England’s fortunes, and in the midst of the chaos of what is still a failure of an Ashes tour, we were reminded that in Bethell, England have themselves a real gem.

Top boy Tongue stars at the MCG

Head coach Brendon McCullum and captain Stokes might have got the Bethell selection right, starting in New Zealand last winter and again for this tour when there were many arguing his lack of domestic cricket in the summer should’ve counted against him.

On reflection, he really ought to have started in Perth, but in fairness, runs for Pope in the warm-up game against England Lions left them with little choice.

But there have been plenty of selection stinkers, too. Josh Tongue having to wait until the third Test, by which point England’s Ashes hopes had all but gone, to finally get in on the action was criminal.

Tongue was England’s leading wicket-taker in last summer’s drawn series with India, despite only playing three of the five games, and he ended the season by lighting up the crucial County Championship clash between Nottinghamshire and Surrey.

Since his late entrance to this series, Tongue has picked up 12 wickets in two matches, including five in the first innings as the MCG – meaning that in his last five Tests, he has won the top England bowler market five times across 10 innings.

In all, Tongue now has 43 wickets from eight games at an average of 26.81. His strike-rate is a nudge below forty, significantly lower than Jofra Archer, James Anderson and Stuart Broad.

I’m not suggesting he is at that level yet, but what is clear is that Tongue is a genuine wicket-taker of the type Bazball yearned for when first born. Good pace, attacking the stumps with some seam movement, mixed with the odd sharp bouncer. What’s not to like?

Quite why Tongue didn’t start the series is beyond me. Even worse, after the second-innings mauling England suffered in Perth, Tongue looked an ideal candidate for the Gabba. But still he had to wait.

I suspect that when the dust settles, and the P45s are handed out, Tongue’s absence in Perth and Brisbane will go down as one of the big misses of the tour.

But come next summer, England have two bright lights to take from this otherwise disastrous Ashes tour, players they can shape a team around, be it one coached by McCullum and captained by Stokes, or not.

Whatever the future, Bethell and Tongue should be at the forefront of it.