It was not an ideal way to start the Ashes series for England team. English batsmen looked absolutely clueless in front of the Aussie bowling lineup comprised of Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood. England were bundled out for a mere 147, the lowest first innings total in Ashes since Australia’s 118 at Edgbaston in 1997.
Electric start
Under-fire Mitchell Starc picked up the wicket of Rory Burns with the first ball of the series. Starc’s fuller delivery crashed into the leg stump. The left-arm pacer's delivery was angled into Burns but the outswinger ended up disturbing the woodwork.
For the first time since 1936, a wicket fell on the first ball of the Ashes series. England lost a wicket on the first ball at the Gabba back in 1936 and collapsed to 20/3, though ultimately they recovered to win that famous clash.
Overcast conditions expeditiously turned out to be more dangerous for the visitors after Starc's early strike, with Hazlewood dismissing Dawid Malan (6) and Joe Root (0) as England slumped to 11/3 in the sixth over.
Captain's record-breaking numbers
On the other hand, Cummins took the first wicket as skipper of the Australia team after his back of a length delivery straightened and forced Ben Stokes to nick it towards Marnus Labuschagne at slips.
Cummins also picked up the wicket of the other opener Haseeb Hameed. Cummins’s fraction fuller length ball forced Hameed to go for an unnecessary shot. The English opener went forward to play a defensive shot but the thick edge ultimately sailed to second slip fielder Steve Smith.
Cummins bowled 13.1 overs and picked up five wickets. Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood were the other victims of the 28-year old Aussie skipper.
With these five wickets Cummins joined a rare list of captains who bagged five wickets on their first day as the skipper. More importantly, it was also Cummins's first five-wicket haul in Tests against England.
Record at the Gabba
England have not won a Test match in Australia since winning the Ashes in 2010-11. Also, they have not won a Test at the Gabba since 1986. After the first two sessions, it is going to be a daunting task to reverse that sequence. Root would have like to send few Australian batters back to the dressing room but rain played spoilsport in the third session as Day 1's play was called off.
