Pat for Cummins
Pacer pulverises England in first Test as Aussie skipper
Brisbane, Dec. 8: Pat Cummins took five wickets in a scintillating start to his captaincy as Australia routed England for 147 on the opening day of the Ashes at the Gabba on Wednesday.
After England skipper Joe Root won the toss and opted to bat, the Australian pace bowling trio of Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood ran riot to bundle the tourists out in just 50.1 overs.
Cummins, in his first game as Test captain since taking over from Tim Paine, claimed 5-38, while Starc took 2-35 and Hazlewood 2-42 as the English batters failed to adapt to the bounce and movement of a Gabba green top.
England made a disastrous start to the series when they lost Rory Burns to the first ball of the match, Starc bowling the left-hander around his legs.
Dawid Malan, who scored six, and Root, for a duck, quickly followed as a shell-shocked England slumped to 11-3.
Cummins chimed in to remove the dangerous Ben Stokes for five and leave England struggling on 59-4 at lunch, on a hot and humid Brisbane morning.
It was only a momentary respite. In the first over after the interval Haseeb Hameed edged Cummins to Steve Smith at second slip to leave England teetering at 60-5.
Jos Buttler came out and launched a fightback with a glittering array of attacking shots to put the Australian attack on the back foot for the first time.
However, with the score on 112, Buttler — who had reached 39 — feathered a catch to debutant wicketkeeper Alex Carey.
Six runs later, Ollie Pope was caught at deep fine leg for 35 to give Cameron Green his first Test wicket.
England’s flimsy challenge was all but over, despite some late hitting from Chris Woakes, who was last man out for 21 as Cummins mopped up the tail.
UNWANTED HISTORY
Earlier Root had taken the brave decision to bat in the bowler-friendly conditions. Brisbane has been experiencing a wet start to the summer, washing out most of the tourists’ scheduled warm-up games. Having had little chance to become acclimatised to the conditions, England’s top order struggled badly with the pace and movement of the Australian attack.
The crowd of just over 30,000 were barely settled in their seats when Starc clean-bowled Burns behind the left-hander’s legs with a full, swinging delivery that should have been defended.
It was only the second time in Ashes history that a wicket had fallen on the first ball of the series. The only previous victim was England’s Stan Worthington in 1936, also in Brisbane.
England made the surprise decision to leave out veteran seamer Stuart Broad and opted for a seam attack of Woakes, Mark Wood and Ollie Robinson, bolstered by Stokes and left-arm spinner Jack Leach. —