STONEMAN’S A ROCK, JAMES ALMOST INVINCIBLE
THEY were supposed to be the two biggest nobodies in an England team nobody had heard of.
But the failed Sydney grade cricketer and a bloke averaging 19 yesterday combined to send a strong message to Australia that even with Ben Stokes back home, the faceless men could be coming to get them.
Opener Mark Stoneman and No.3 James Vince put their names up in lights on day one at the Gabba, punching out a tough-as-nails century partnership that rebuilt the innings.
Upon hearing the anonymous names Stoneman, Vince and Dawid Malan read out at the selection table, England greats were quick to declare this team the weakest to ever tour Australia.
Kevin Pietersen went as far as to label it “horrendous”.
Just 48 hours before the Test, former Australian opener Matthew Hayden hit a nerve with Stokes all the way on the other side of the world when he suggested England were a “rabble”.
“I look down half of the list and I honestly don’t even know who half of these guys are,” Hayden said.
Australia’s fast bowlers confidently predicted in the lead-up to the series that if they got to Alastair Cook and Joe Root, the inexperienced players around them would struggle.
When experienced leader Cook nicked off in just the third over, it was suddenly up to the two battlers to sink or swim. They didn’t paddle fast but Stoneman and Vince (83) were convincing with their strokes and a fifty each.