England’s declaration of intent
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By Aiden McLaughlin
In recent memory, the first ball of an Ashes Test series is a nervous one for English fans, and for good reason.
In 2001, Michael Slater hit Darren Gough for four. In 2006, Steve Harmison hit second slip. Last time out, in 2021, Mitchell Starc bowled Rory Burns. All set the tone for the series – England lost them all, and heavily.
Last night, it was Pat Cummins to Zak Crawley. Crawley smashed him through the covers for four. Ben Stokes looked on from the balcony open-mouthed. In Cummins’ second over, there were three fielders on the boundary with just two slips and a gully. Australia were showing their early reaction to Bazball.
Spinner Nathan Lyon was introduced in just the 10th over; the field was defensive; England scored 54 singles in the first session, the most ever recorded in the history of Test cricket.
If Australia’s tactics allowed the runs to flow, England’s batters kept the door ajar. Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope and Crawley all fell before lunch, to leave the hosts 124-3.
In the afternoon, Harry Brook and Ben Stokes departed in quick succession; Brook for a typically quickfire 32 off 37 balls, Stokes for just the one run, after driving carelessly to Hazelwood. Suddenly, England were 176-5 on a very decent batting track. One thing about this line-up however is how deep they bat. With Jonny Bairstow and seven and Moeen Ali at eight, there are options to not only recover, but keep pushing forward and so it proved. Bairstow and Yorkshire team-mate Joe Root put on 121 for the sixth wicket, Bairstow with a run a ball 78 before he became Lyon’s third victim. It was their 11th century stand in Test cricket.
As so often, Root was the anchor for his side and he brought up his fourth Ashes century (all at home), but notably, his first against the old enemy since Trent Bridge in 2015. As he reached 118 not out from 152 balls, support came in the form of Ali (18 from 17), Stuart Broad (16 from 21) and Ollie Robinson (17 not out off 31) as England reached 393 for 8 at a run rate of 5.03.
Then, the twist – earlier this year, at Bay Oval, Stokes declared against New Zealand after 58.2 overs, with his side at 325 for 9. This time, he took the opportunity after 78 overs to send the Australian openers in for a potentially tricky four overs to see out the day. With Root well set, the chance was there to push towards 450 by the end of play, and maybe even have some time out in the middle on day two. Ifs, buts, maybes for sure, but Stokes chose the option to bowl, without success, with David Warner and Usman Khawaja reaching 14 without loss, with Broad and Robinson taking the new ball.
It was a day of ebb and flow for sure and if this is what’s in store for the rest of the series, then it will not only live up to the hype but surpass it. For cricket fans, that’s got to be a good thing, whatever the result.
#Statchat
- England’s run-rate of 5.03 was only their sixth highest in the Stokes/McCullum era when they have scored 350 or more (the highest was 6.57 against Pakistan).
- The first innings declaration was the four earliest on day one of a Men’s test and England’s second earliest behind the Bay Oval Test.
- The total runs scored (407) was down the list of the most Ashes runs scored on day one since the second World War. More were scored in 2013 (447), 2001 & 2006 (427) and 407 were also scored in 1948 and 2005.
- The last time Jimmy Anderson didn’t take the new ball in England in a Test match was at Lords, against Australia, in 2009.
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