The opening day of the Ashes at The Gabba in Brisbane in 1994: Michael Slater cracked the first ball, bowled by Phil DeFreitas, to the boundary hoardings. Nearly three decades later, on a good pitch for batting at Edgbaston, Zak Crawley smashed the first ball bowled by Pat Cummins through the covers for four in the opening Test of the 2023 Ashes.
Those old memories didn’t just gush forth, but the stroke also signalled England’s intent to continue with their Bazball approach. Australia, though, picked up wickets at regular intervals to claw their way back into the game. At the fag end of the day, with Joe Root batting on 118, the Ben Stokes-Brendon McCullum captain-coach combination once again put their faith in a fearless approach by declaring the innings at 393 at 8. The declaration could come back to bite them as the track looks a belter. But there is no doubt that Stokes and McCullum will back their method to the hilt. At stumps, Australia were 14-0, trailing by 379.
Root was again the bedrock of England’s batting. He began his innings with a few dabs. Subsequently, he crunched drives and flicks, alongside his now-famous reverse scoop. He played that while facing both Scott Boland and Cummins. With Ollie Robinson giving him good company, he reached his 30th Test with a single off Lyon in the 76th over. Once he completed the landmark, Root took the aggressive route as he used the slog-sweep and loft to collect two sixes off Lyon. Just when it felt as if England were getting into a dominant position, Stokes opted to declare. Usman Khawaja and David Warner, though, survived a couple of nervy pokes as they took Australia to stumps.
As day one of yet another Ashes series commenced, England’s approach wasn’t the only point of discussion. Another talking point was how quickly Australia went into defensive mode in good batting conditions. It is difficult to recollect Australia going so defensive in the opening overs of an Ashes series over the last three decades. There were singles galore, with a deep cover and deep square leg in place.
However, against the run of play, Ben Duckett (12 runs) steered one off Josh Hazelwood to Alex Carey, the wicketkeeper. Square on both sides of the wicket is Duckett’s key strength, but on this occasion, he was caught between cutting or leaving the ball, and ended up edging it.
Ollie Pope and Crawley then shared an association of 70 in just over 14 overs. Crawley played sumptuous drives, while Pope used his feet nicely against Nathan Lyon. With the score reading 92 for 1, England seemed to be edging ahead, but once again Australia made an incision at a crucial juncture. Pope played back to a quicker delivery from Lyon, and was out LBW. Initially, the decision was not given, but Australia got it reversed via the DRS.
On the stroke of lunch, Boland got one to bounce and forced Crawley to edge behind. Australia’s loud appeal was turned down, but they soon had their wicket with the help of DRS. After lunch, Harry Brook and Root strung together a partnership of 51 in just under 11 overs. But Australia fought back, with Lyon and Hazlewood taking a wicket each. Brook, who until then had shown good judgment against Lyon, was hit on the thigh pad by an overspun delivery from Lyon that bounced extra. The ball then slowly went on to crash into the stumps, off the back of Brook’s leg. The dismissal would have offered some relief to Travis Head, who had dropped a chance at deep third man to reprieve Brook earlier.
Stokes followed Brook back to the pavilion by edging a good-length ball to Carey. At that stage, Jonny Bairstow and Root joined forces to put on a stand of 121. It was a trademark innings from Bairstow as he brought out the cut, pull, flick and the occasional slog to put some pressure back on Australia. Bairstow, however, was stumped off the bowling of Lyon for a run-a-ball 78. Lyon then dismissed Moeen Ali for the 10th time in Test cricket, while Cameron Green cleaned up Stuart Broad.
Even in the mini-passage of play at the end of the day, Stokes threw in another surprise by using Broad and Robinson as new-ball bowlers, and not James Anderson. Broad’s great record against Warner – he has dismissed him 14 times in Test cricket – could have been one reason. At the other end, Robinson’s ability to consistently angle the ball away from a left-hand batter perhaps meant that he was given the chance to bowl with a new ball, especially in the backdrop of Khawaja’s struggles against the away-going delivery in England. It should be noted, however, that Anderson has found more than enough success from both round and over the wicket against left-hand batters in Test cricket.
That Bazball is something new is a myth. A generation ago, in the most celebrated of modern-day Ashes series, England slashed and burned their way to 407 on the opening day of an Edgbaston Test that started with Glenn McGrath twisting his ankle on a ball in the pre-game warm-up. What England showed 18 years on was that same commitment to attack, no matter what the match situation. More surprises await.