In decent conditions for batting, England’s seamers bowled with discipline and nous to reduce Australia to 299 for 8 at close of play on the opening day of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford. The highlight of the day was Stuart Broad picking up his 600th Test scalp to become the fifth cricketer to achieve that milestone.
After Ben Stokes surprisingly opted to bowl, Australia lost their openers – Usman Khawaja and David Warner – relatively cheaply. Khawaja was trapped in front by Broad’s wobble-seam delivery, while Warner chased an away-going ball from Chris Woakes. At that stage, Steve Smith (41) and Marnus Labuschagne (51) stitched an alliance of 59 to prop up the innings. The duo didn’t exactly look comfortable at the crease but were able to navigate their way through a few tricky spells.
Right after the lunch break, Mark Wood made the vital incision when he had Smith LBW, with a delivery that was angled in from wide of the crease. Initially not given by the on-field umpire, England got it overturned via the review. Travis Head and Labuschagne then strung together another timely stand of 63. Not surprisingly, Head was the more aggressive of the two, scoring 76 per cent of the runs. However, on the stroke of tea, Moeen Ali dismissed Labuschagne LBW. Once again the on-field decision was not out but England placed their belief in the review. Subsequently, the ball-tracker showed it would have crashed into leg stump.
England then struck right after the tea break when Broad had Head caught at deep square leg on the back of a short ball to pick up his 600th Test wicket. He got a warm hug from one of the other members of the 600-Test-wickets club, Jimmy Anderson. For a while, Mitchell Marsh again threatened to take the game away, cracking lofts and drives off Moeen Ali and also Broad. Perhaps Ben Stokes made a mistake by not attacking Marsh with seamers from both ends as he does have a tendency to play with hard hands.
Eventually, Woakes dismissed both Cameron Green and Marsh in a single over. Jonny Bairstow, who has dropped quite a few chances in the series, also deserves credit for the dismissal of Marsh as he plucked a one-handed catch just inches above the ground. Alex Carey and Mitchell Starc frustrated England with a 39-run stand before Woakes struck with the second new ball, tempting Carey to edge a wobble-seam ball to Bairstow.
With four for 52, Woakes was clearly the best bowler on show. The Warwickshire bowler employed swing and wobble seam to good effect. Broad, Wood and Moeen all chipped in with wickets.
After a couple of lacklustre performances, Anderson bowled quite well but without an ounce of luck. He is perhaps going through one such phase at the fag end of an illustrious career. Anderson used the inswinger to the left-handers and beat the bat enough times. Just before stumps were drawn, when Starc eked out an inside edge and the ball scurried away to the fence, all Anderson could do was have a wry smile at his day of hard toil and no luck.