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It was explosive, it was topsy-turvy, and it was utterly, utterly compelling – the 2023 Ashes series could hardly have got off to a more spectacular start in Edgbaston.
From the moment England opener Zak Crawley began the series by larruping Australian captain Pat Cummins through the covers in a moment reminiscent of Michael Slater’s iconic first-ball four to start the 1994/95 series, the Poms’ ‘Bazball’ mantra provided thrills and spills galore as they rollicked their way to 393 in 78 overs of mayhem after winning the toss and choosing to bat.
Leading the way was Joe Root, the English champion’s spectacular form extending into a third straight year to notch his 30th Test century, and first against Australia since 2015 – remarkably, in reaching three figures the former captain also ended a run of 12 Ashes half-centuries without raising the bat.
The finish, too, perfectly summed up England’s newfound approach to cricket: a shock early declaration from Ben Stokes, with Root unbeaten on 118 forced the Aussies to see out a challenging half an hour before stumps, albeit one which David Warner and Usman Khawaja safely negotiated to leave the visitors 0/14 after four overs.
Not to be outdone, the Australian bowling attack found frequent reward for their travails on an unhelpful surface, winkling out as many English wickets as were handed to them on a platter by aggression-first batting, Nathan Lyon the pick of the bunch with a rare Day 1 bag of four wickets for the veteran off-spinner, though his figures were handed a battering by a late Root onslaught.
The pacemen had more of a mixed bag. Recalled for Mitchell Starc in Australia’s only change from their World Test Championship final triumph, Josh Hazlewood justified his selection with his usual brand of accuracy and menace, picking up Ben Duckett and Ben Stokes early to catches behind to finish the day with the excellent figures of 2/61 in his first overseas Test since the 2019 Ashes.
His fellow quicks didn’t have quite so much success: though appearing to have solved the no-ball problem which plagued him against India, Pat Cummins was unable to coax any life out of the placid pitch, with even the tiniest errors of line or length mercilessly feasted on by the Englishmen.
Ditto Scott Boland, who had no answer for England’s batters, Crawley especially, coming out of their crease to bludgeon the Victorian repeatedly down the ground.
Going into the day with a Test average of 14.57, Boland would be dispatched at over a run a ball in clearly the worst day of his international career to date, the 86 runs he conceded across 14 expensive overs quite clearly a personal low.
The only dampener on a captivating day was the Edgbaston pitch itself, a surface unworthy of the quality of cricket played on it: providing the Aussie pacemen with the lowest average seam and swing movement per ball ever seen on a day in England since records began in 2006, it was exactly the lifeless husk the home side had made it clear was their preference heading into the match.
While England have the upper hand for now, no doubt the Australian batters will be relishing the chance to bat on a surface as far removed from the seam-friendly pitches they have struggled on in series past.
Ashes series are often defined by their first ball: Slater’s boundary over point off Phil DeFreitas set the tone for Australia’s thumping home win nearly 20 years ago, while Steve Harmison and Mitchell Starc’s first ball of the 2006/07 and 2021/22 series are likewise etched in folklore, though for totally opposite reasons.
This time, it was England’s turn to make a statement from the outset, Crawley launching into a textbook cover drive to delight not just a packed Birmingham crowd, but his teammates as well.
It remain to be seen whether this latest first-ball drama will define the 2023 series, but it certainly defined the day for Crawley: derided by many as the weak link in England’s imposing batting order, the opener mastered the tame conditions and an in-form Australian attack for an assertive 73-ball 61.
Ruthless on anything wide of his off stump and repeatedly striding down the pitch to turn Scott Boland’s metronomic line and length into juicy half-volleys to punish, Crawley looked the far more assured of England’s opening pair, with Ben Duckett surviving a French cut that whistled past his leg stump for a streaky four only to feather Josh Hazlewood behind on the very next ball.
However, he would need to ride his luck, a substantial spike on Snicko revealing he had edged Boland to Carey on 40, only for not a single Australian to so much as appeal.
A 70-run stand at lightning pace between Crawley and Ollie Pope saw Lyon introduced before the tenth over, just the third time in 29 Ashes Tests he has been brought on as early.
It would soon have the desired effect, Pope struck on the pad playing across the line, a successful review removing the England prodigy for 31 and marking the first of a number of poor decisions from umpires Ahsan Raza and Marais Erasmus.
Throughout, Cummins had received ample criticism for overly defensive fields, particularly from former Australian captain Ricky Ponting, with his choice to set a deep backward point from the opening ball especially scrutinised.
“I’m not a huge fan of the deep backward point,” Ponting said on Sky Sports.
“Yes, the bad ball might get cut. But you’ve got to protect your good balls to build pressure. If the scoreboard continually ticks over, batsmen never feel under pressure at all.”
However, the move may have contributed to Duckett’s wicket in particular, with the aggressive opener falling attempting to glide a cut fine of the fielder, rather than the full-blooded shot he may have opted for with no sweeper set.
When Crawley fell on the brink of lunch, his edge behind off Boland requiring the DRS’s intervention once again after Erasmus inexplicably failed to notice the Englishman’s thumb had nearly been torn off, Australia, despite a punishing run-rate, could lay claims to having won the session.
Hopes of rolling England after the break faded when Root and Harry Brook continued the charge; the latter making the most of a dropped chance from a diving Travis Head at backward point and taking the long handle to Lyon especially.
The off-spinner, though, would get his revenge in the day’s most extraordinary moment: finding extra bounce to ping off Brook’s thigh pad, the ball would rebound straight up, with both Brook and Alex Carey totally losing the ball until it fell and took a wicked turn into the stumps to disturb the furniture.
Australia’s luck, it seemed, had turned: when Hazlewood struck again to not only send Stokes back for 1 after an edge behind, but a review as well after the England skipper wasted a call for the DRS, England were 5/176 and in real danger of a below-par score on a batting-friendly surface.
But with Root well set, it was the perfect time for his favourite partner to join the fray. He and Jonny Bairstow had combined for 10 century partnerships in Test cricket, fourth of all time among all English pairs, and they would soon make it 11.
Bairstow, recalled and granted his old wicketkeeping gloves having missed the better part of 12 months with a broken leg, showcased the brutal ball-striking that defined England’s golden summer of 2022 and netted him four centuries in six tests at run-a-ball pace.
Meeting every ball with ruthless intent, the aggressor to Root’s more sedate accumulation – notwithstanding the day’s most remarkable shots, audacious reverse-ramps for six off Boland and Cummins – 50 would arrive off just 58 balls to confirm his inclusion at the expense of immaculate wicketkeeper Ben Foakes was the right call.
A century seemed inevitable when, on 68, an edge that would have been straight down the throat of an absent first slip was shelled by Carey’s desperate one-handed dive; but in the end, it would be his aggression that became his undoing.
One ball after demolishing a Lyon long hop through square leg for four, a premeditated charge down the pitch saw him stranded, the off-spinner’s pulling back of his length and late dip presenting Carey with an easy stumping to make amends for his mistake.
England’s other returnee, Moeen Ali, lasted just 17 balls but provided a swathe of highlights too. Taking on his old nemesis Lyon by dancing down the track and clipping majestically over mid-on for four, he would respond to his other purported weakness, the short ball, by whipping a pull off Cummins over the deep mid-wicket rope for six – a stroke made all the more audacious by the presence of a catcher there for precisely that shot.
As with Bairstow, attacking intent and Lyon’s subtle variations ended things: choosing the wrong ball to dance, his wild swipe across the line was nowhere close to making content, with Carey doing the rest.
With Root powering towards three figures, there was no question of farming the strike: both Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson were too keen to swing the bat.
Broad swung his way to 16 before being comprehensively bowled by Cameron Green, who looked wayward in his six overs for the day, while Robinson finished unbeaten on 17, both wheeling off singles wherever required as Root lifted the gears.
On a relatively sedate 83 off 131 balls when joined by Robinson, Root’s second reverse-scoop of the day to further dent Cummins’ figures signalled his upping of the ante: happy to clip singles as the Aussie fielders retreated to the boundaries, he’d bring up his century with nine of them, plus a two, in 13 balls of pure strike rotation.
England’s Joe Root celebrates reaching his century. (Photo by Mike Egerton/PA Images via Getty Images)
Celebrating his century with as much gusto as relief, ending a near eight-year wait since his last Ashes century (an event overshadowed by the fact Australia had been bowled out for 60 earlier that day), Root’s onslaught ended with a pair of crunching sixes off Lyon, before Stokes caught everyone on the hop and ended the innings.
A further surprise was in store: for the first time since 2009, Jimmy Anderson would be denied the new ball in a Test in England, Stokes instead turning to Broad and Robinson for a quick breakthrough before stumps.
Hopes that Warner and Khawaja would crack under the pressure were soon dispelled, though not without a series of hairy moments as Khawaja repeatedly denied his partner’s pleas for a quick single to open his account.
A pair of crisp Warner cover drives off Broad would have come as welcome relief to batsman and team after their infamous battle during the 2019 Ashes, as well as proving once and for all the lifelessness of the pitch.
The day ended with England ahead in the match, though no doubt the Aussies would have feared worse after losing the toss: with the surface unlikely to deteriorate anytime soon, their mission now is simple: bat, and bat, and bat.
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