With all the drama surrounding the team combination of England and the unavailability of all-rounder Ben Stokes, the opening Ashes Test kicked off at the Gabba in Brisbane, and at the end of Day 1 of the opening Test, both teams would be pretty happy with their performance. While Australia might be a tad unhappy getting just four wickets through the day but they will gain heart from the fact that the Englishmen didn’t manage to run away with the game and could only manage 196 at the end of the day’s play.
It was Joe Root who won the toss and opted to bat. England were in for an early shock as their most experienced batsman Alastair Cook was dismissed in only the 3rd over. Starc had troubled Cook earlier and set him up perfectly. It was a full-length delivery which moved away just a bit and took the outside edge of his bat. Peter Handscomb stationed in the 1st slip region moved towards his right and completed a straightforward catch.
It was Mark Stoneman and James Vince who started the repairing work. Vince whose place in the Playing XI was in doubts played the best innings in his international career so far and bailed England out of the early trouble. Both the batsmen looked rather unfazed at the crease and barring a few occasions; they made the Australian bowlers look clueless.
They were finding the gaps perfectly and especially Vince was looking in sensational touch. He struck some delightful drives and looked in ominous touch. He was well on a course for his maiden Test century. On the other hand, Stoneman was ticking along the scoreboard with singles, but after finishing his half-century, the opener was castled by a brilliant inswinging delivery from Pat Cummins.
With the score at 127/2, it was skipper Joe Root who joined Vince in the middle. A couple of wickets fell in quick succession as both Vince and Root were dismissed as the visitors were reduced to 163/4. Vince made a well composed 83 of 170 deliveries which included 12 hits to the fence. He was a bit unfortunate as a mix up with Root cost him dearly as Nathan Lyon ran him out.
It was yet again Pat Cummins who sent back Joe Root to the pavilion with a full length winging delivery. It struck Root adjacent to the stumps, and the umpire had no hesitation in ruling the decision in favour of the home team. It was Dawid Malan and Moeen Ali who bailed the visitors out of the precarious situation by sharing an unbeaten 33 runs partnership which took England to 196/4 at the end of the day’s play.
While Pat Cummins returned with 2/59 at the end of the opening day’s play, Starc also bagged a solitary wicket and ended up conceding 45 runs in 20 overs. Eventually, the umpires had to call of the day after bad light brought a premature end to the day’s play.
Brief Scores
Australia 1st innings 196/4 in 80.2 overs (James Vince 83, Mark Stoneman 52, Pat Cummins 2/59, Mitchell Starc 1/45)