After the first session on Day 1 of the first Ashes 2023 test match between England and Australia at Edgbaston, it is Australia who are on top of the proceedings as England’s score reads 124/3 after 26.4 overs on one of the flattest decks ever produced in a test match.
England started the innings really well with a boundary off Crawley’s bat. It was a much better start for the English men as compared to the last Ashes, where they lost a wicket to Rory Burns on the first ball of the Ashes series to Mitchell Starc.
Also Read: Ashes Series 2023: Exciting Player Match-ups in the 1st Test
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— England Cricket (@englandcricket) June 16, 2023
We were all Stokesy there…
Live clips/Scorecard: https://t.co/TZMO0eJDwY pic.twitter.com/rUEOIO7onJ
Australia managed to find a breakthrough in the fourth over as Ben Duckett gave his wicket away playing according to the “Bazball” technique. Ollie Pope and Zak Crawley were involved in a strong partnership that looked like game-changing as they scored rapidly, but Nathan Lyon foxed Ollie Pope in the 18th over and gave his team the much-needed breakthrough.
Root came on to the pitch next and was just settling in with Crawley when suddenly Scott Boland managed to bowl a ripper, and Crawley’s glove deflected the ball to Alex Carey. The wicket fell just two balls away from lunch and has put Australia in the driver’s seat.
Cummins has introduced four bowlers till now, and all of them except him have managed to get a wicket. The pitch is really flat, and there is no swing or even seam movement. It seems bowlers are in for a hard job in this Ashes, as this pitch indicates that others will be on similar lines too.
Earlier in the day, Ben Stokes had won the toss and elected to bat without even blinking an eye. Cummins said he would have also loved to bat first, but after this session, he might actually be happy with getting to bowl first.