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England are one of Test cricket’s most attacking batting sides but changed approach yesterday in an effort to tire out Australia’s four-man bowling attack on day one of the Ashes.
Australia’s Ashes foes have over the past two years given a licence to attack to their aggressive strokemakers Joe Root, Ben Stokes, Jonny Bairstow and Moeen Ali.
» See how the first day played out with our live blog
England’s success in that time has been due, in no small part, to the blazing efforts of that quartet, as opposed to their previous era when England often grinded to big totals via dour innings by the likes of Alastair Cook, Jonathan Trott and Ian Bell.
On the first day of the Gabba Test, England patently attempted to exploit the fact Australia had only four bowlers, two of whom have recently returned from injury, as they crawled to 4-196 from 80.3 overs.
There was plenty of sense in such an approach. Australia’s key advantage in this series is their possession of three quicks who can prosper on flat pitches.
Should there be injuries to one or more of Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins or Josh Hazlewood, that advantage would be eroded, as Australia’s back-up pacemen Jackson Bird and Chadd Sayers are less dynamic.
By playing within themselves and forcing Australia’s quicks to toil, England would have hoped they could break one of them, or at least drain them to the point they lost a yard of pace. It worked, for a while at least.
After coming to the crease in just the third over, James Vince produced an exquisite debut Ashes knock laced with languid drives through the offside. While his wonderfully well-timed strokes must have earned Vince many new fans, it was his judgment outside off stump which was the bedrock of his score of 83.
The English first drop has made a habit of scoring pretty 20s during his brief Test career. Those stylish cameos typically have been cut short by a lazy waft at a delivery which could have been left alone.
Yesterday Vince shelved those loose drives and instead requested the Australian bowlers come to him. When they inevitably did he cashed in, playing the kind of front and back-foot drives which make a cricketing purist purr.
At the other end, Stoneman constructed a sturdy innings, the likes of which Cook would have aimed to produce. Stoneman, too, refused to be drawn into playing at anything which could be left alone safely. With 53 from 159 balls, Stoneman’s was a far less fetching innings, but one which was almost equally as valuable.
At 1-127 in the 55th over, England’s newcomers appeared to have tamed the Australian attack.
But, despite looking unthreatening at times, the home bowlers remained disciplined in the second and third sessions, after being flat and wayward in the first.
As Josh Hazlewood had a rare off day, lacking his trademark precision, Starc, Cummins and Nathan Lyon filled the breach.
(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
Starc and Cummins also started slowly, too often erring on the short side in their length, but corrected this to become menacing over the second half of the day.
Cummins’ fitness has been questioned in many quarters, not least yesterday by BT sports commentator and England stalwart Geoff Boycott, who kept suggesting the young Aussie would fade badly as the day wore on. The infamous curmudgeon was swiftly proved wrong.
Cummins only get better as the day progressed, and in his final spell his average speed of 140kmh was only 1kmh slower than it had been in his first spell.
The 24-year-old showed in Australia’s last Test, in Bangladesh, that he is a courageous bowler with fantastic aerobic capacity, defying volcanic weather to shine as his side’s lone paceman.
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It was the reverse swing Cummins earned in his third and fourth spells which accounted for Stoneman and Root. Starc, meanwhile, was impressively accurate in his later spells and built good pressure in concert with Cummins and Lyon.
The Australian off spinner is having the finest year of his Test career and, while he didn’t take a wicket yesterday, he was a pivotal figure. Lyon conceded just 31 runs from his first 20 overs before Moeen Ali aimed a few hefty strikes at him late in the day.
His pitch map would have earned admiration from Glenn McGrath such was the consistency Lyon displayed. He should have had a breakthrough, only for new wicketkeeper Tim Paine to turf a regulation outside edge when Vince was on 68.
Australia can consider they had the better of the first day given the pitch is a road and 427 has been the average score batting first in the previous five Tests in Brisbane.
Threats remain, however, as England bat deep, with star keeper-batsman Bairstow and capable bowling all-rounder Chris Woakes still to come.