The Ashes: Ben Stokes rips apart Australia's batting order after Mitchell Starc's 7-fer, England ahead by 49 runs on Day 1

The first day of the Ashes opener at the Optus stadium turned out to be as eventful as ever. A total of 19 wickets fell as the bowlers totally dominated over the batters and almost two innings reached a conclusion. After England got bundled out for 172 runs thanks to an incredible 7-wicket haul from Mitchell Starc, they fought back brilliantly and restricted Australia to 123/9 with Ben Stokes bagging five scalps.

The day began with England batting first. With Australia being without both Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood for first Test, it was expected that the Three Lions would dominate with the bat over the significantly weakened Australian bowling attack. However, Starc provided his side with the breakthrough in the first over itself and sent Zak Crawley back to the pavilion for a duck.

Starc turns into a one-man army

Things only got better for Starc and Australia as the session progressed. The left-hand seamer first got the wicket of Ben Duckett before clinching the massive wicket of Joe Root for a 7-ball duck. Though Ollie Pope and Harry Brook looked to have stabilized the innings, but Cameron Green managed to dismiss the former for 46 runs. The second session saw the bowlers dominate once again as Starc racked up the wicket of Stokes in the first few overs.

Harry Brook did play a valiant knock of 52, but he too wasn't able to keep going for long and got dismissed by debutant Brendan Doggett. Starc kept on racking scalps on regular intervals and ended up taking three more to finish his spell at 7/58. 

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Despite being bundled out for a rather modest total, England fought back as Jofra Archer got the wicket of Jake Weatherald for a two-ball duck in the first over of the innings. The pacer also ended up taking the wicket of Marnus Labuschagne cheaply for 9 before Brydon Carse got rid of both Steve Smith and Usman Khawaja in short intervals.

Stokes dominates with five scalps

After this, Stokes joined the party and decimated Australia's middle and lower middle-order. He dismissed the likes of Travis Head, Cameron Green, Mitchell Starc, Alex Carey and Scott Boland to complete his fifer. It looked as if Australia's innings would come to an end on the first day itself, but the duo of Doggett and Nathan Lyon managed to hold on and will resume batting on Day 2 with Australia on still trailing by 49 runs.