Ashes Day 1: England dismissed cheaply

Pat Cummins picked up a brilliant 5 wicket haul on the first day of the opening match against England.

Rain, wet outfield, and then bad light spoiled day 1 after England’s horrible batting performance.

England   1st innings  147 all-out 

Buttler    39 (58)         Cummins     5-38                                                                                                                    Pope       35 (79)          Starc            2-35                                                                                                           Hameed 25 (75)          Hazlewood 2-42

Joe Root elected to bat first after winning the toss and that was might not a bad decision as Pat Cummins also said on the toss that he would also bat first if he had won the toss.

But England’s batting lineup failed badly against the might pace attack of Australia as they were all-out on just 147 runs before Tea on day 1.

Nightmarish start for Burns

Starc started the Ashes brilliantly series by dismissing Rory Burns on the very ball of the series.

Burns was clean bowled for a golden duck and now he holds two negative records under his belt.

Rory Burns is now only the second opener in history to get dismissed on the first ball of the Ashes.

This was also Burn’s 6th golden duck in this year and now holds the record of the most number of golden ducks in a calendar year by an opener.

The most dependable batter of England who is also the leading run-scorer in 2021, Joe Root was dismissed on a duck and England was 3 down on just 11 runs.

The star all-rounder Ben Stokes came to the crease but he also failed to rescue his side, he was dismissed by Cummins.

Buttler and Pope hold fort

England lost half of their side on just 60 runs but Jos Buttler and Ollie Pope tried to rebuild the innings and they made a solid 52 run partnership for the 6th wicket. 

Mitchell Starc break the stand by dismissing Buttler for 39 runs and after that wicket, the rest of the English side was blown away for just 35 runs.

Ollie Pope couldn’t resist much after Buttler’s dismissal. Pope was dismissed on 35 runs before completing his 1000 runs in Test cricket.

Jos Buttler(39) and Ollie Pope(35) were the top scorers for England.

Cummins picked up 5 wickets and he was well supported by Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood as both of them picked up 2 wickets each.

Cameron Green also picked up his maiden Test wicket. 

England was all-out on 147 runs before Tea on day 1 but the rain interrupted the play in the last session followed by wet outfield and then the bad light.

All these factors enforced early stumps on day 1 but Australia will be very happy with their performance right now. 

Brilliant fiver by Cummins

The Australian skipper, Pat Cummins was the star with the bowl as he claimed an outstanding 5 wicket-haul on his debut captaincy match.

He became the first Australian captain to pick up a five-wicket haul in Test cricket since Richie Benaud who has done this in 1962.

He also became the first skipper of either side to do so since Bob Willis who had done the same in 1982 at the Gabba.

Indeed, it was a dream performance from Cummins today.