![]() ![]() In 2017-18 he went down under without Stokes because of the Bristol incident. Joe Root knows a thing or two about Ashes plans after three series captaining England against Australia. Australia were ready for the punch, but left themselves open to having their bellies tickled. Mike Tyson famously said that everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face. Perhaps a scheme cooked up in Brisbane did not bear fruit in Birmingham. ![]() Even on a pitch that looks flat, 393-8 is a healthy total. The run-rate of 5.03 was England's second-fastest in a total of more than 300 against Australia, beaten only by the first-day 407 on this ground in 2005. Australia didn't manage a maiden until the 37th over of the day and bowled only one more. England took 54 singles in the first session, the most ever recorded in the history of Test cricket. Was it successful? As ever, these things only reveal themselves in the fullness of time. Head got serenaded for dropping an admittedly tough chance off Harry Brook, Lyon the subject of a rude comparison with Moeen Ali from the Hollies Stand.īoth will go to sleep with Edgbaston ringing in their ears. It did mean Travis Head and Nathan Lyon were chosen to spend pretty much all day on the fence, closer to the rowdy England fans than their own team-mates. On the other, pragmatism can be seen as a sign of strength, having enough confidence in your team to adapt to the situation. Not fighting fire with fire, but trying to avoid it by diligently completing a risk assessment. If Cummins could have done, he would have had a boundary-rider in Balsall Heath and a sweeper in Sparkhill. Rarely less than three men back, often four or five. The deep point fielder posted on the boundary for the very first ball of the day was a sign of things to come. How Australia might deal with England was an afterthought.īut Pat Cummins showed his hand even before Zak Crawley crunched the Australia captain's first ball of the series for four, a moment that will go down in Ashes history if England go on to win (although anyone watching replays in 20 years will wonder why Stokes, watching in the dressing room, was wearing a bucket hat). Ashes first Test day two - follow live text, TMS commentary and in-play clipsĪll the build-up chatter had been about England and their attempt to Bazball the Australian attack.One day in and the most hyped Ashes series in a generation has started by more than living up to expectations. If this is what is to come over the next five Tests, the 2023 Ashes series will be an instant classic.Įngland piling up 393-8 at more than five runs an over was made all the more compelling by Australia's attempts to contain them, but that was nothing compared to Ben Stokes' jaw-dropping declaration half an hour before the close. Whatever was being refunded, it was surely not the price of a ticket, which was worth every penny to a raucous Edgbaston crowd. ![]()
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