Ashes 2023, 1st Test: Crawley's Late Wicket Derails England's 'Bazball' Momentum

Crawley brings up his fifty in 56 balls [AP Photos]

England have certainly changed their Test fortunes in the last one year. The 2022 Ashes started with the first ball wicket of Rory Burns, and the 2023 series kick-started with a gorgeous boundary by Zak Crawley to set things up for the hosts.

The Edgbaston, Birmingham has the flattest track in England and it perfectly suited England's new aggressive batting style as the home team capitalised on the early start and made the Australian bowlers toil hard on a flat track to finish on 124 for 3 at the end of first session.

Bazball off to a flier

The new regime of Brendon McCullum and Ben Stokes has changed the mindset of the England batters and it was evident on the very first ball off the game when Crawley smoked Cummins for a boundary.

Australia came up with a defensive mindset as they already had fielders on the boundary line to control the flow of runs. Duckett and Crawley added a quick-fire 22 before the returning Josh Hazlewood sent Duckett back to the pavilion.

The in-form Ollie Pope joined hands with Crawley and kept the scoreboard ticking. They had an interesting ploy for the dangerous Scott Boland, repeatedly skipping down the track to negate any swing that was on offer. Both the batters had a positive frame of mind and that introduced Nathan Lyon inside the first 10 overs.

Two wickets derail England's momentum

The English pair had an attacking approach against Lyon as the wily spinner was rattled early in the spell. But the champion spinner bounced back with the wicket of Pope, when the batter was looking good at 31.

Australia perhaps lost a great opportunity to trap Crawley in the over of Boland. The England opener had nicked one back to the keeper, but the Australian team didn't appeal. The replays later showed that there was a slight nick as the ball went past the bat. The tall opener eventually punished the Aussie bowlers and went onto notch a gritty half-century.

However, Boland, eventually had the last laugh as his good length delivery kicked-off the surface and the ball touched Crawley's thumb and went behind to the keeper and the opener was dismissed for 61 just before the lunch break.

Brief Score

England: 124 for 3 (26.4)

Zak Crawley 61 (73), Ollie Pope 31 (44);

Nathan Lyon 1-26 (5), Josh Hazlewood 1-27 (7)

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