Australia pacer Mitchell Starc provided his team with a magnificent start to The Ashes as he dismissed Zak Crawley in the very first over. This was the seventh time that Starc got a wicket in the opening over of a Test and the 24th time that he got a scalp in the first over of an innings.
Crawley becomes Starc's 24th first-over victim
Starc bowled an outside off delivery that wasn't really meant to be driven, but Crawley ended up making the mistake and edged it straight towards Usman Khawaja in the slips. The fielder looked to have fumbled at first, but managed to cling onto the catch as the Baggy Greens got off to a perfect start.
Starc got two more wickets
Things only ended up getting better for Australia and Starc as the session progressed. The left-arm seamer went on to dismiss Ben Duckett for 21 runs before bagging the massive wicket of Joe Root for a 7-ball duck. It is safe to say that the opening session of the day has clearly belonged to Australia and now it remains to be seen if the remaining England batters will be able to deliver or not.
Earlier, England captain Ben Stokes had won the toss and had chosen to bat first. This wasn't a very surprising decision as all five previous Tests at the venue have been won by the side batting first. However, that decision certainly hasn't worked in the visitors' favour so far.
“We will try and get some runs on the board and see where we go from there. It’s a lot of hard work, determination, we have got a clear plan of what we want to do in Australia," Stokes said at the toss.
Australia's playing XI for 1st Test: Usman Khawaja, Jake Weatherald, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Brendan Doggett, Scott Boland.
England's playing XI for 1st Test: Zak Crawley, Ben Duckett, Ollie Pope, Joe Root, Harry Brook, Ben Stokes (c), Jamie Smith (wk), Brydon Carse, Gus Atkinson, Jofra Archer, Mark Wood.