Australia reach stumps unscathed after England declare at 393-8 on day one of the Ashes

There was no danger of an anti-climax on the first day of this highly anticipated series. Don’t worry about exaggeration after such a long build-up.

Just great, fluctuating and above all very entertaining Ashes cricket for a full and raw Edgbaston to enjoy. Goodness, there was even a statement from England against all accepted cricket test logic that they just refer to history.

From the moment Zak Crawley crashed Pat Cummins’ very first ball swiftly through the hoods to the boundary, the opening salvo of what was already going to be a classic Ashes lived up to every last bit of hype.

First, Crawley made the sort of impact England demands of him, both in that opening statement and going through for a top-quality 61 before falling to the last ball before lunch.

Then Australia threatened to take control as they reduced England to 176 for five, Harry Brook fell to a bizarre dismissal and Ben Stokes followed him seven balls later.

England responded as only they can by the bulldozing return of Jonny Bairstow, back from such a terrible and freak injury and now hitting a run a ball 78 by picking up where he left off last summer.

Just as England looked set to make the most of winning what appeared to be an important coin toss – Stokes resisted the urge to say ‘we’re going to chase’ – they handed the initiative back to Australia by Alex Carey’s two simple stumpings from Nathan Lyon.

But any danger of underachievement was averted by the sheer class of Joe Root, who first joined Bairstow in a superb run of 121 in 23 overs and then progressed to a magnificent hundred by combining stylish stroke play with a single shot of Bazbal.

Then came the biggest twist of all with an utterly bonkers but absolutely brilliant and absolutely character statement from Stokes after Root beat Lyon for two sixes in an over to take his score to 118 and England to 393 for eight from just 78 overs.

On the early days this was just the most famous of them all here at Edgbaston in 2005 when Ricky Ponting asked England to bat and then saw them go up 407 in 79.2 overs. And we all know how that test and series ended.

It was a sustained blow from which that side of Australia never recovered and now England have applied this psychological pressure by doing what they least expected of them, even though David Warner and Usman Khawaja held out to the end.

For the time being, this should mainly be celebrated as Root’s day. The former captain who had such a torrid time in charge in Australia’s final Ashes was simply sublime and made a mockery of concerns that he was wasting his time sitting on the Rajasthan Royals bench at the IPL ahead of this series in instead of getting a red ball practice with Yorkshire.

There were great blows galore from Root, who made it a point to step two feet further out of his crease than usual, and two straight out of the Bazball playbook as he reversed Scott Boland for six and then repeated the best and fastest shot. of the lot in Cummins. He can combine old and new in perfect harmony.

This was the clash of styles expected, with England refusing to back down as they had promised and the newly crowned world champions producing a more orthodox approach through their top quality welders and Lyon’s impressive off-spin.

It was also a role reversal, with England the aggressors and Australia resembling many a inhibited English team from Ashe’s past by immediately going on the defensive.

From the very first ball faced by Ben Duckett, Cummins had posted a deep point, or rather Steve Smith had put himself on the pitch as the former captain had much more in charge all day than the current one.

Australia all too often tracked the ball and were unusually meek in their approach. “They look like they’ve been rocked by England,” Mike Atherton said on Sky and it was clear England’s new approach had entered Australian minds.

That showed in some shoddy Australian fielding, Travis Head dropped Brook on 24, Carey dropped Bairstow on 68 and no one appealed when Crawley appeared to have pushed Scott Boland through to Carey. That’s the problem with Australians. They’re too nice.

With that in mind, Australia will be relieved to still be in the game, the oft-underestimated Lyon finishing with four wickets and England helping the old foe by giving them at least three wickets.

There’s no such thing as a bad shot, Stokes said last week, but there’s no other way to describe the wild slogs of the returning Moeen Ali, who at least beat Cummins for four and six in the same over, and the Nighthawk himself in Stuart Broad.

Brook, meanwhile, was unlucky when a ball from Lyon hit him on the thigh and rolled over his shoulder before spinning back onto the stumps, but he was groggy too. He did not react to the possibility of danger and showed no self-preservation. instinct.

England, on the other hand, are not really into self-preservation, as was again shown when Stokes brought them in, when almost any other side in 146 years would have smashed Test cricket to reach at least the score of 400 that should have been the minimum of their ambitions on such a flat, slow pitch.

Not this English side. Of course they did not do what was expected of them. Instead, they kept all 25,000 spectators on the edge of their seats as Stokes threw the ball to Broad and let it go first to the man he pocketed at Warner in 2019.

Warner was like a cat on a hot tin roof in that first over, but both he and Usman Khawaja battled it out to finish on 14 without a loss. What a day. What an incredible Test cricket. And to think that there may be another 24 days to come.