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England will look to make their advantage from the first day count while Australia will look at better lengths from their bowlers to try and trigger a lower-order collapse when the two sides return for the second day of the opening Ashes Test at The Gabba on Friday.
Join The Roar for live scores and coverage of Day 2 at the Gabba from 10:30am (AEDT).
In what was an intriguing, rain-hit opening day’s play, neither team can lay claims of having taken advantage.
England looked to have squandered a strong position when they lost three for 36 including the wicket of their skipper Joe Root but returned to the pavillion breathing a lot easier at four for 196 when bad light ended the play a few balls early.
After the early loss of Alastair Cook brought greenhorns Mark Stoneman and James Vince together – the pair had a sum total of ten Tests under their belt before this – it looked like the Aussie bowlers had made a significant inroad.
The slow nature of the surface, however, and poor lengths from their quicks pushed captain Steven Smith into bringing offie Nathan Lyon early into the piece.
Lyon extracted a lot of turn right throughout the day and beat the bat on many an occasion but failed to get a breakthrough with his bowling.
What he did manage was the run-out of Vince, who was just a few away from his maiden Test century at that stage. A direct hit from the covers found Vince short at the non-striker’s end.
Earlier, Stoneman had completed a hard-fought, 159-ball 53 before he seemed to lose his focus and his stumps to an in-dipper from Pat Cummins.
Cummins would return to send Root back as well, surprisingly given not-out by the umpire to a delivery that jagged back a mile from outside the off. Caught half-cock, the review ruled Root out, lbw, to undo their good start on the opening day.
Moeen Ali joined Dawid Malan and saw off the rest of the day’s play with much confidence but will now begin day two against a very newish second ball.
Prediction
The second new ball will be absolutely crucial to Australia’s chances because in the absence of Ben Stokes, life could get difficult for their lower-order. A quick wicket early could leave the likes of Jonny Bairstow and Chris Woakes exposed to it and Australia might be able to wrap it up quickly.
Be sure to join The Roar for live coverage of Day 2 of the 2017-18 Ashes series from 10:30am (AEDT) and don’t forget to add a comment in the section below.
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