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The Ashes Gabba Test Day 1 Pat Cummins Takes Five Wicket Haul On First Day As Australia Captain

The Ashes | Gabba Test, Day 1: Pat Cummins takes five-wicket haul on first day as Australia captain

The new era of Australian Test cricket has started on an incredibly dominating note with the new skipper Pat Cummins leading the side with a five-wicket haul against England on the first day of the first Ashes Test at Gabba.

He first got the better of Ben Stokes with a beauty from round the wicket angle in the morning session and followed it up with the wickets of Haseeb Hameed, who was looking set at the crease, Chris Woakes, Ollie Robinson and Mark Wood to claim his sixth five-wicket haul in the longest format and first against the arch-rivals England.

He was the most successful bowler among Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood but all of them bowled remarkably well on a damp Gabba pitch to bowl England out in the afternoon session for a mere 147. Both Hazlewood and Starc bowled superbly well for their two wickets each on the first day.

England won the toss and decided to bat first in a move that appeared a brave call considering the nature of the surface at Gabba and weather conditions expected in Brisbane for the first day of the Test. Only Ollie Pope and Jos Buttler looked in control and England have been thrown into a disarray in the first Test of the Ashes series in Australia once again.

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BAN vs PAK | 2nd Test: Sajid Khan rattles hosts, put them on brink with eight-wicket haul

Bangladesh are struggling to save the second Test of the series against Pakistan despite a major portion of the first three days being washed out due to persistent rains. They could bat only 32 overs on the fourth and early part of the fifth day of the Test to be dismissed for a mere 87 runs and leaving themselves to follow on. Pakistan had declared their first innings at 300/4 and then unleashed their bowling attack on the home batsmen. Sajid Khan demolished the batting order and picked six wickets on the fourth day and extended it to a weight-wicket haul on the final day to put Bangladesh on the mat. The hosts did not find it easy even on the second opportunity to bat and save themselves from a big defeat as the Pakistan new ball pair of Hasan Ali and Shaheen Shah Afridi struck thrice to leave them on the brink.

The Ashes | Gabba Test, Day 1: Cameron Green dismisses Ollie Pope to pick maiden Test wicket

After a struggle of four Tests during the last summer against India to pick up a wicket, Cameron Green picked his first Test wicket on the first day of the first Ashes Test at the Gabba. To add to Australia’s relief, he dismissed Ollie Pope, who was the best England batsman on the day and was batting with absolute control against the likes of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. He dug the ball in short and Pope tried to pull the ball without going fully back in his crease and the extra bounce meant a top edge for Hazlewood to take a fantastic catch diving full stretched forward. With his wicket, England slipped to 118/7 as their top order was obliterated by the trio of Australian pacers. Jos Buttler joined Ollie Pope and attacked bowlers with some remarkable shots which he plays in white-ball cricket but Starc came back in his second spell to dismiss him and quash any hopes of England’s revival. Green has been rated very highly for his all-round skills and the coach Justin Langer had suggested his role will be instrumental in managing the workload of pace bowlers, especially Pat Cummins, who has taken up the extra responsibility of being the skipper of the side.

The Ashes | Gabba Test, Day 1: Stokes wears black arm band with father's cap number to pay him tribute

Continuing with ways of showing the love for his bereaved father, England all-rounder Ben Stokes wore a black arm band on the first day of the first Ashes Test at Gabba. The arm band had the number 568—which was his father’s cap number when he played for New Zealand Rugby League in the year 1982. Ben Stokes has been very emotional about his father and paid rich tributes to him before the start of the Gabba Test. “I wasn’t sure if I would ever walk out onto a field ever again a few months ago, I find it amazing that when I do walk out tomorrow I’ll be remembering you exactly 1 year on since you left us….You are gonna be with me this whole week," Stokes wrote in an Instagram post paying tribute to his father. Stokes’ father, Ged Stokes was diagnosed with brain cancer midway through the last year that compelled the all-rounder to head to New Zealand leaving his assignment with England behind him. Later, he succumbed to the same illness towards the end of the last year. Ben Stokes was added late to the England Test squad for the Ashes series after opting out of a major part of the English summer against India due to complicated finger injury and mental health issues.

The Ashes | Gabba Test, Day 1: Australian pace trio demolish English top order inside first hour

England suffered the worst possible start to their Ashes campaign as Australian pacers ripped the heart out of their batting line up inside the first hours of the first day of the first Test at the Gabba. Mitchell Starc, who was under pressure at the start of the series, bowled Rory Burns behind his legs on the very first ball of the series to give Australia a dream start. Josh Hazlewood took the mantle for him quickly and put the tourists on the mat with two big wickets of Dawid Malan and Joe Root. Malan was done in by the length around off stump but he was guilty of playing at one he could have left and Alex Carey was happy to get his first dismissal at Test level as a wicketkeeper. The script was somewhat similar to Joe Root, who got a perfect length delivery at the off-stump that he could not do anything but edge to David Warner at slip. Losing three wickets in quick succession brought Ben Stokes back to action and he had to bring his best with the bat to rescue England. However, he was done in by a delivery that got big on him from Pat Cummins, who was bowling from round the wicket angle and the left-hander could not drop his wrist down while playing the ball. Marnus Labuschagne pouched the catch safely at the third slip. Earlier at the start of the game, England skipper Joe Root won the toss and elected to bat first on a greenish surface. The downfall of four top-order wickets to some unplayable deliveries will compel Root to contemplate if bowling first would have been a better option while sitting in the dressing room.