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

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.

LPL 2021 | Maheesh Theekshana, Dhananjaya Lakshan steal the limelight in Jaffna and Galle victories

It was once again a day of spinners in the Lanka Premier league 2021 as in both the games of the day, the spinners showed their magic and thwarted the opposition. However, the night belonged to pace bowling all-rounder Dhananjaya Lakshan who dismissed key en of the opposition made the ball talk. In the day game, Maheesh Theekshana and Wanindu Hasaranga, playing for the Jaffna Kings floored the opposition Dambulla Giants’ batters as they took three wickets each and got the opposition all out for 110 only. Nuwanidu Fernando top-scored for the Giants in this game. The Dasun Shanaka led side which was victorious in their first encounter of the league against Kandy Warriors on Monday was not even a pale shadow of itself today as all the batters failed big time. In their bowlers couldn't do much to put up a fight as the Kings didn’t find any inconvenience whatsoever in chasing down the total in only 12.3 overs. Tom Kohler-Cadmore was the top scorer for the Jaffna side with an unbeaten 45 off only 30 balls and was supported well by Avishka Fernando who was asked to open and who scored 33. The Kings lost only two wickets while completing the chase. Lakshan leads Galle to win In the evening game, things got tight between the Galle Gladiators and the Kandy Warriors as the former was set a target of 144 to win in 20 overs. The chase did start well with the opening pair of Kusal Mendis and Danushka Gunathilaka put up 62 runs for the first wicket in only 45 balls. However, things started to deteriorate in the middle and at one point the Gladiators were 88-4, needing 56 runs in 43 balls with two new men at the crease. However quickfire runs, first from skipper Bahnuka Rajapaksa (22 off 13) and then Lakshan (10* off 4) and Lahiru Madushanka (22* off 13) made sure that the game was finished with four balls to spare. Earlier in the evening, Lakshan shone with the ball too as he picked up crucial wickets of Charith Asalanka and Kamindu Mendis to restrict the Warriors for 143 after they had decided to bat first after winning the toss. Post this win, the Gladiators now have four points from three games and are sitting at the top of the five-team table while the Warriors remain winless.