Perth lived up to its reputation of being a ground of sensational possibilities. A ground full of life for determined fast bowlers. A ground for seam, swing, pace and telling bounce. No wonder the Ashes opened to a terrific day of cricket where the hugely expectant crowd had their monies worth.
Mitch Starc, leading an inexperienced Australian pace attack in the absence of Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood, produced an exceptional spell of hostile fast bowling. Once he had Zak Crawley caught in the slip cordon on the 2nd ball of his first over, Starc was relentless with his pace, direction and bounce.
Ollie Pope and Ben Duckett played a few delightful strokes, particularly the straight drives were textbook stuff. But once they departed and Joe Root was knocked over for a duck, England were in strife. But Harry Brook played an innings of sheer belligerence, helping England to muster a few good runs. He went down the wicket to pace bowlers and belted them over extra cover in an exquisite batting display.
Brook, however, edged one to Alex Carey off debutant Dogget, cutting short his audacious 52-run knock of just 61 balls. Starc in the interim continued to nip away the wickets. Ben Stokes was bowled by a beauty, while Brydon Carse and Gus Atkinson did not last long either.
Jamie Smith threatened a bit but holed out to deep square leg in an attempt to gather runs to become Starc’s sixth victim, while Mark Wood gave it away in a reckless swish of the bat, giving Starc his record-breaking 7th wicket of the innings. England were bundled out for 172.
The Australians were on a high, and it was well perceived that the Kangaroos had the advantage over the Three Lions. But Jofra Archer, in a scintillating spell, removed debutant Jake Weatherald for a duck and bowled Marnus Labuschagne as Australia moved at snail’s pace in an extremely defensive approach.
Brydon Carse bowled with fire too, hitting the deck to get maximum purchase from the wicket, even hitting Cam Green on the helmet with a vicious short delivery. Carse accounted for Usman Khawaja and the prized wicket of skipper Steve Smith, which pushed back the Kangaroos.
The turning point of the day, however, came when the mercurial Ben Stokes came on to bowl. With Travis Head and Cam Green settling into a developing partnership, England needed a breakthrough. Travis Head flicked one off his wrists straight to mid-on, and then Green played a loose shot outside the off-stump to nick one to Jamie Smith. Australia had lost 6 already.
Mitch Starc, Alex Carey and Scott Boland were scalped by Stokes too, getting 5 wickets in 6 overs to pin down Australia. At stumps, the hosts were struggling at 123 for 9, still 49 runs adrift of the English total. The talismanic Stokes had done it again.
It was a pulsating day of cricket. England played the way they do in Bazball style. But were undone by poor shot selection and brilliant bowling from Starc. Australia perished doing the same, with Ben Stokes getting a crucial 5-wicket haul.
England, as of now, have their nose in front. The Australians need to show some more grit and determination to turn this around.
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