Ashes 1st test Day 1 Stumps: England Makes Brave Declaration at 393/8
A day of test cricket where batters had a lot of fun as a lot of runs were on offer from the pitch but bowlers were made to toil hard for each and every wicket on a batter’s pitch. Nonetheless, Australia, bowling first, has managed to neutralise England’s advantage.
Also read: Unusual Way to Get out for Harry Brook in Ashes 2023
England were 393/8 when around 10 overs were left in the day, and everyone thought Root and Robinson would change gears and try to score the maximum runs possible, but Stokes suddenly made a declaration and gave his bowlers a crack at the Aussies at the very end of the day. Australia’s score was 14/0 at stumps after batting for four overs.
The pick of the batters was Joe Root, who scored an incredible Ashes century after eight long years. His innings was a perfect example of new-age test match batting, where he respected the good balls, even getting beaten on some of them, but was ready to punish the poor balls. He also played some reverse scoops and was not out on 118 in just 152 balls when Stokes declared.
Zak Crawley played very well, scoring 61 runs and giving his team a quick start. Ollie Pope was just getting into the groove but was found plumb by Nathan Lyon. Harry Brook’s entertaining 32 ended in the most bizarre way, as his dismissal was lucky for Lyon. Bairstow played a fabulous inning of 78 runs in those many balls and was looking very dangerous, but Lyon managed to get him stumped.
It is not very common to see a spinner bowling 29 overs on day 1 of a test match in England, but it happened yesterday as Nathan Lyon bowled 29 overs and took 4 wickets. He was the best Australian bowler. Hazelwood got two, Boland and Green shared a wicket each, but the Aussie captain finished the innings with no wicket to his name.
If Day 1 is anything to go by, we are in for a more exciting Day 2 and an even more interesting Ashes. It will be interesting to see what approach the Aussies follow in their innings as they trail England by 379 runs.
