Australia gained upper hand on the first day of the first Test match of the Ashes 2021-22 series against England, bowling out the opposition for a paltry total of 147 on a rain-truncated day. Australia’s brand-new captain Pat Cummins returned with a superb spell of 13.1-3-38-5 while the other two fast bowlers in Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood claimed a couple of wickets each.
It was England who won the toss and decided to bat believing that the wicket at the Gabba will flatten out as the game progresses on the first day on Wednesday. However, the English batsmen failed to adjust with the bounce and pace that the Gabba pitch had to offer on the opening day of the much-awaited Ashes series, which also sported fresh green grass that enabled movement of the ball off the pitch.
Starc swung the ball late to crash it into Rory Burns’ wickets around his legs, and for the first time since the 1936 Ashes series there was a dismissal on the first ball of the coveted series. England continued to slip thereon, losing Dawid Malan for 6 followed by captain Joe Root, who failed to score a run, as the visitors were reduced to 11/3 in the sixth over.
England opener Haseeb Hameed and young batsmen Ollie Pope did well to hold the Australian bowlers from making another damage as the two batsmen added 31 runs from 84 balls for the fifth wicket. However, Cummins returned to have Hameed caught behind in the slips as the visitors sank further. Hameed made 25 from the help of three boundaries while facing 75 balls.
The best partnership for England came from the pair of wicket-keeper batsman Jos Buttler and Pope. The two batsmen added 52 runs for the sixth wicket, while facing 83 balls. Buttler tried to take the attack to the Australian bowlers as he scored 39 from 58 balls with the help of five boundaries. On the other hand, Pope made 35 from 79 balls with a couple of boundaries before he was surprised by a short ball from Australian all-rounder Cameron Green, who grabbed his first wicket in the format.
England bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes lashed out some delicious straight drives as the Australian bowlers continued to look for edges. Woakes hit four boundaries to make a quick 21 from 24 balls, which helped England had some crucial runs towards the end of their innings. But Cummins did extremely well to collect plenty of wickets towards the end of the English innings, as he accounted for the likes of Woakes, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood.
The play on the opening day of the Ashes 2021-22 series was expected to be hampered by rains as no play was possible after England were bowled out. The forecast for the second day is similar.