Australia dominates: See how it unfolded at the Gabba

Day one of the first Ashes Test gets underway as Australia and England go head to head at the Gabba, Brisbane. Join The Roar for live scores and a blog from 10:30am AEDT.

With so much happening in the lead up to this Test including injuries to key players and captains choosing to resign, it promises to be an enthralling first Test and both sides know how crucial a result is in Queensland.

The lead-up to this Ashes series has been so full of surprises, rumours and shock announcements that fans will be relieved when we can finally get on with the actual cricket! We’ve had uncertainty over the England side coming to Australia at all, Tim Paine resigning, Pat Cummins rising to the greatest job in Australia, Ben Stokes not coming….then coming and on the eve of day one, England’s finest fast bowler, James Anderson, has pulled out of the first Test with a calf injury.

Just imagine what will happen once they start playing!

Cummins will lead his first Ashes side with plenty of talent but little form amongst the ranks. Alex Carey will makes his debut taking the place of Tim Paine who has stepped away from all forms of cricket for the time being. Carey’s State team mate Travis Head has been recalled and will bat at five having beaten Usman Khawaja to the spot.

The Australian bowling lineup has the potential to be devastating with Cummins and Josh Hazlewood likely to do a lot of work. Mitchell Starc’s selection surprised a few and Shane Warne didn’t miss with some of his criticisms of the quick bowlers’ inclusion. On his day Starc could tear through England but there aren’t enough of those days for him to be a dead cert for selection and if his radar is off then Cummins will be left a bowler down.

Cameron Green’s role, therefore, is going to be important as he needs to provide Cummins with an extra seam option to share the load as well as some crucial middle-order runs. The youngster hasn’t turned his potential into results yet but plenty are convinced of his talent.

For England, the Gabba is not a happy place – in the 21 Ashes Tests played at the Brisbane ground, England have only won four times. England will rely heavily upon Joe Root’s runs this series and luckily the skipper is in the form of his life – 1,455 Test runs in 2021 at an average of 66.1. With six more innings likely in the year, England fans will hope he pushes on and ends up as close to the 2,000 mark as possible.

England’s top order have struggled to match their leaders’ example though and the top three have got to perform better in Brisbane.

With the news that James Anderson is being deliberately rested, Root will turn to a combination of Stuart Broad, Mark Wood, Chris Woakes and Ollie Robinson to deliver the early wickets with Ben Stokes playing an important role as the innings progress. It will be interesting to see what role spin plays in Root’s tactics with Jack Leach offering his slow left armers.

The inclusion of Stokes is huge for England and while you don’t want to put too much pressure on one player, Stokes has shown before that he has that ability to single handedly change games. Root described him as the heart of everything good that England do in an interview with the BBC ahead of the series and a lot is expected, and required, from the all rounder.

With the heavy rain that has hit southeast Queensland in the past couple of weeks, there has been plenty of speculation about how the wicket will play. The covers have had to stay on more than the grounds team would have liked and this has meant the wicket has been looking as green as the outfield. Root even delayed naming his final team as a result.

Prediction
Unfortunately, rain could have an impact on the first Test with afternoon storms forecast for the first couple of days. With potential cloud cover and a lively green top wicket, the bowlers are expected to be on top and Australia’s line up has the advantage over their English rivals, especially with Anderson out.

Expect the first Test to be a relatively low scoring affair.

Worth noting – of the 16 times there has been a victory in the Ashes Test at the Gabba, that winning side has gone on to win the series 14 times. As goes the Gabba, so goes the Ashes.

Game information
Venue: The Gabba, Brisbane
First ball: 11:00 am (AEDT), Wednesday 8th December 2021
Live stream/TV: Kayo, Foxtel, Channel Seven
Umpires: Paul Reiffel, Rod Tucker
Match Referee: David Boon
Betting: Australia $1.89, England $4.90 – odds via PlayUp

Australia Team
David Warner, Marcus Harris, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Cameron Green, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc.

England Team
Joe Root (c), Stuart Broad, Rory Burns, Jos Buttler (wk), Haseeb Hameed, Jack Leach, Dawid Malan, Ollie Pope, Ollie Robinson, Ben Stokes, Chris Woakes, Mark Wood.