diff --git a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriterWithThreads.java b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriterWithThreads.java
index a9f1710ebf4..cc646b1cb2d 100644
--- a/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriterWithThreads.java
+++ b/lucene/core/src/test/org/apache/lucene/index/TestIndexWriterWithThreads.java
@@ -362,7 +362,7 @@ public class TestIndexWriterWithThreads extends LuceneTestCase {
               "finishDocument".equals(trace[i].getMethodName())) {
             sawAbortOrFlushDoc = true;
           }
-          if ("merge".equals(trace[i])) {
+          if ("merge".equals(trace[i].getMethodName())) {
             sawMerge = true;
           }
           if ("close".equals(trace[i].getMethodName())) {