THRILLER IN STORE AS BROAD BRISTLES
IT LOOKED for all the world that England had blown their big chance to put pressure on Australia at the start of the Ashes when they let new irritant-in-chief Nathan Lyon get on top of them at The Gabba.
Then it looked like England were on their way to what would be a huge upset victory here when they struck four early blows to leave the most patriotic crowd in Australia in a state of disbelief.
But this compelling opening Test was on a knife-edge at the end of the second day after the formidable figure of Steve Smith rode the storm along with one of Australia’s most controversial Ashes selections, Shaun Marsh.
Even a second-morning collapse when England lost their last six wickets for 56 to crash to what seemed an under-par 302 was not enough to break the spirit of a side who have been quietly impressive since they arrived.
What followed was a quite brilliant display in the field by England, with disciplined, penetrative bowling and thoughtful, imaginative tactics from a captain in Joe Root leading his country for the first time in an overseas Test.
But by the end of an absorbing second day Australia were 165 for four at their Brisbane fortress and relying heavily on their own captain Smith who was becalmed for long spells by England but remained unbeaten on 64.
How impressive England were with the ball and how well executed were the plans that were devised with a large helping hand from temporary bowling coach Shane Bond who has made a big impact here on an experienced attack.
But if anyone epitomised England in the field it was the bristling figure of Stuart Broad, still a pantomime villain in these parts, who is never more competitive than when facing Australia and the odds are apparently against him.
The myopic Channel Nine commentary team were quick to condemn England’s field as too defensive when Broad placed men deep on the cover and midwicket boundaries to David Warner at the start of Australia’s innings. But the plan was to give Warner singles so that Broad could attack the debutant Cameron Bancroft while also preying on the patience of Australia’s most destructive batsman. Cue the breakthrough, Broad having Bancroft well caught by Jonny Bairstow, and cue, soon after, the implosion of Warner who got out in a similar way to how England snared him twice in the 2015 Ashes, to a mistimed pull.
The demise of Warner gave Jake Ball his first Ashes wicket and left Australia three down after Moeen Ali, brought on by Root for the eighth over after the offspinning success of Lyon, had seen the back of Usman Khawaja.
When the outstanding Jimmy Anderson had the quirky Peter Handscomb, a right- handed version of England’s Gary Ballance, lbw with the help of technology after a mistake by Aleem Dar, Australia were 76 for four and in big trouble.
But they are very much in this nail-biter thanks to Smith and Marsh, who had badly dropped Broad during his useful 20 but who now came through a testing examination of his own.
What will particularly please England is that their strong opening came with important contributions from the ‘no names’ in their team who were mocked on their arrival.
First Dawid Malan joined fellow Ashes newcomers James Vince and Mark Stoneman in making a half-century and then Ball, earmarked for Australia early last summer by coach Trevor Bayliss, claimed the big scalp of Warner.
But what will frustrate Bayliss is that no England batsman went on to make a big century which
will be needed if England are going to be competitive throughout this series. Still, if you had told England before this game that Alastair Cook, Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow would score 26 runs between them they would have taken a score of just over 300.
The unlikely hero of the home attack was Lyon, who backed up his inflammatory words before the series with two big wickets to add to his potentially pivotal run-out of Vince. England again seemed about to take a grip on the Test when Malan and Moeen took their fifth-wicket stand to 83, but a loose pull from Malan against an out-of-sorts Mitchell Starc sparked the latest of England’s collapses. Starc and Pat Cummins revved up the pace on what remains a sluggish Gabba pitch to finish with three wickets each, but could not stop England’s last three wickets adding what might still be a priceless 52. England were criticised for their slow scoring rate on day one but it said everything about both the pitch and the quality of the bowling that Australia could go along at fewer than three an over in reply. That included Smith, but the Australian captain undoubtedly held the key to this Test and quite possibly the series going into the third day. For now, it is still very much game on.