ASHES Australia v England 1st Test at Perth

Neil Whitaker reports

Day 1

ENGLAND fought back well on the first day of the Ashes series to take nine  Australian wickets after they had been dismissed for 172 in less than 33 overs.

Captain Ben Stokes took five wickets,  Brydon  Carse, who took two wickets and two catches and Jofra Archer took two wickets. When England took to the field nobody in their huge support would have thought that they would take three wickets, never mind the nine   they got.  After having a leg before turned down against Jake Weatherald, on Test debut, England reviewed it and the replay showed it to be hitting.  Weatherald’s first Test innings lasted two balls.

All the England bowlers bowled with pace with Archer and Mark Wood bowling at over 150 km an hour but they couldn’t break Steve Smith and Marnus Labuschagne partnership until Archer got one to rise at Labuschagne, hit his funny bone and dropped on his stumps and then England went through the Australian batting like a knife through butter.

In the next over Carse squared Steve Smith up, took his edge and Harry Brook at second slip took the catch. Usman Kwaja who couldn’t open because he had been off the field during the later part of the England innings  came in at number four but didn’t last very long. Carse took one to rise at him and found the shoulder of his bat and stumper Jamie Smith did the rest.  Carse said: “He’s a quality player in their side and to get him like that was pretty special.  At the end of our innings Stokes was pretty positive and full of enthusiasm. He has said before the match that it’s been a long time in preparation for this series.”

Travis Head got a leading edge to Gus Atkinson and the ball flew agonising over Ollie Pope in the gully. On five, Cameron Green chipped  Atkinson back to the bowler but Atkinson couldn’t gather the low chance. Then on seven he was hit on the side of his helmet and Green did well not to stand on his stumps.

After adding 45  valuable runs, Head chipped Stokes off his legs to Carse at mid-wicket.  Two overs later Green joined him back in the hutch when he edged a drive off Stokes to give Jamie Smith a regulation catch.

When Alex Carey turned Stokes off his legs for a single he became Australia’s top scorer of the day.  With eight minutes left in the day  he uppercut Stokes to  Carse on the third man boundary. Stokes got on an hattrick when Scott Boland edged him to Brook at second slip who took a low catch.  Stokes’ other wicket was  Mitchell Starc who  smashed Stokes straight to Carse at mid-off.

 At 9.50 Stokes won the toss and decided to bat as England went in with four pacemen plus Stokes and the spin of Joe  Root.  All they had to do was bat for the best part of two days.  In the end they were blasted out in under 33 overs.  Starc finished with his best figure in Test matches so far with seven for 58 and he reached 100 Test wickets.

England lost their first wicket to the last ball of the first over when Zak Crawley edged a drive off Starc  without moving his feet and Usman Khawaja at first slip took the catch in his midriff at the second attempt.

Ben Duckett drove Boland fiercely to the straight boundary.  He repeated the shot in Boland’s next over before  becoming Starc’s second victim when he was trapped on his crease and given out leg before.  Duckett reviewed it but the replay showed it to be clipping his leg stump.

The wait goes on for Root’s first century in Australia. This time he was dismissed for a duck.  Starc squared him up and took his edge leaving Labuschagne at third slip to  take  a low catch.

Pope uppercut Starc over the slips to the third man boundary.  He drove Green beautifully for a straight four off his back foot to bring up the 50 partnership with Brook and clipped the next ball through mid-wicket for three.  But England ended the over by losing another review.  Pope tried to turn Green to leg but was hit on his pads and given out.  Pope reviewed it but the replay showed it to be clipping the leg stump.

Starc beat Stokes with three balls  that rose over shoulder height but the fourth ball only got halfway up the off stump and Stokes was late in adjusting.

Before he had scored Jamie Smith survived a leg before shout which the Aussies reviewed and the replay showed it to be going down the legside. He hit Starc for consecutive fours the first was straight and the second he pulled to the square leg boundary.

Starc got his 17th Test five wicket haul when  Atkinson edged him and took a low catch diving  to his left at second slip.

After he received treatment when he left a straight one from Brendon  Doggett, Carse pulled  Doggett to Labuschange at mid-wicket.

Jamie Smith clipped Starc straight to Boland on the square leg boundary.  The innings ended when Wood top edged a flat batted drive and the ball went up in the air and Carey took an easy catch.

Brook blasted Boland to the mid-off boundary and drove Starc straight to the long-off boundary and pulled Starc for a single to reach his 50 from 58 balls with five fours. Doggett got his first Test wicket when Brook gloved a pull shot to Carey.  He was given not out,  so Steve  Smith reviewed it even before the replay was shown Brook was walking.

Starc said: “Today. has been on fast forward and my role in the team is  to go looking for wickets specially with the new ball and hopefully making roads into the opposition.I thought both teams did pretty well taking  19 wickets.

It's unfortunate we haven’t got Josh Hazelwood  and Pat Cummins  with us but we still have a fairly a bit of experience in the bowling attack,  Boland has been around for a while and Doggett has got first class experience.  We knew that England would be aggressive so it helped bowling them  out for 170.”

Day 2

AUSTRALIA thrashed England by  eight wickets with over three days to spare at the Optus stadium to take a 1-0 nil lead in the series.

This was supposed to be England’s  best chance of winning a Test and taking a 1-0 lead in the Ashes because Australia were short of two of their best bowlers Pat Cummins and Josh Hazelwood and they had problems at the top of their order.  

Debutant Jake Weatherald opened with two different partners because regular opener Usman Khawaja had been off the field.  After his duck in the first innings Weatherald made 23 and shared in an opening partnership of 75 with Travis Head who hit 123, hitting the third equal fastest century by an Australian and passing a 1,000 Test runs against England.

The wickets kept falling on the second day  with Australia starting their second and final innings of the match straight after tea needing 205 to win.  It took England 26 minutes on the second morning to take the final Australian first innings wicket when Nathan Lyon edged a drive off Bryden Carse  to Ben Duckett at gully after adding a single to his overnight score. Brendan Doggett got his first run in Test cricket when he glanced  Mark Wood off his hips for a single.  After adding another single he thumped Wood into Ollie Pope at short leg but he couldn’t hold on to it.   Doggett was unbeaten on seven and Carse finished with three for 45.

Mitchell Starc opened the bowling In England’s from the Members’ End while yesterday he took his best Test figures of seven for 57 at the Justin Langer stand end and for the 25th time in his Test career he took a wicket in his first over when he took a spectacular one-handed in his left hand while his body was moving to his right.  He went on to take  three wickets for 53 as he became the first Australian to take 10 wickets in an Ashes Test match since Shane Warne took 10 wickets at the Kia Oval in 2005.  It was the third time that Starc has taken 10 wickets in a Test match

England lost nine wickets for 105 runs in less than 20 overs after lunch. At the beginning of their partnership both Duckett and Pope were aggressive and took the game to Australia but after a while they both became very selective in their shot selections and this  rattled the Australians. Pope guided Doggett wide off gully to the third man boundary. A leg bye called by Duckett turned into five when Weatherald’s throw from point missed the stumps at the bowler's end and ran to the boundary.

Duckett caressed Doggett to the long off boundary. The first ball after Duckett had received treatment for a blow on his elbow was struck on his pads from Scott Boland and was given out. Duckett reviewed it and the replay showed that the ball had pitched just outside leg.

Pope cut Cameron Green to the cover boundary.  In the next over Duckett went back to Boland and edged him to Steve Smith at second slip who took a low catch.  Duckett stood his ground but the replay showed the catch was good.  With Pope, Duckett added 65, the biggest stand for England of the match.

Boland got his second wicket of the innings in his next over when Pope played a loose shot without moving his feet and Alex  Carey took an easy catch.  Three balls later Harry Brook simply glanced Boland,  to give Usman Khawaja catching practice at slip for a duck.

Joe Root got off the pair by glancing Boland off his legs for a couple. In the next over he pulled Green to the square leg boundary.  He fell victim to the Welsh dragon when he dragged on to Starc back operating at the Justin Langer stand end.

Usman Khawaja dropped a low chance when Jamie Smith edged  Starc to get off the mark.  Starc reverted to the Members end and squared Ben Stokes finding  the shoulder of his bat and Steve Smith took an easy catch at third slip.  Smith edged Starc over the outstretched hand Usman Khawaja at first slip and the ran to the third man boundary.

The Australian’s went up for a catch behind when Jamie Smith gloved Doggett but umpire Sharfudoula wasn’t convinced so the Australians went for a review. After an eternity the third umpire ruled that Jamie Smith had gloved it.

Carse launched Boland over the long-off boundary for a six.  Atkinson also hit a six when he pulled Starc over fine leg as their partnership reached 40.  He pulled Starc for another six this time over long leg.  Their partnership ended when moved across to his off stump to pull Doggett but gloved it to Carey.  The pair had added 50 enjoyable runs in six overs.

Jofra Archer hacked Doggett but found Steve Smith at mid-on.  Gus Atkinson, who hit 37, was last man out when he got too far under a pull off Boland and Doggett took the catch on the fine leg boundary.  Boland took four wickets for 33 and Doggett’s three wickets cost him 51 runs.

In their chase Weatherald was given out on seven  caught behind and he started to walk and then reviewed it.  The replay showed that there was a gap between ball and bat.

Head uppercut Carse over third man for a six and a couple of balls later he fiercely cut him to the cover boundary roared on by the home fans.  He delicately late cut Wood through the slips for another four. In the next over he unbelievably smashed Carse over third man for another six to bring up the 50 partnership with Weatherald.

He glanced Wood off his hips for a six over fine leg  and cut the next along  the  ground for a four. Head flicked Wood off his legs for a couple  to bring up his 21st Test 50 off 36 balls with three sixes and three fours.

Head hit three consecutive boundaries off Stokes: first he thrashed Stokes to the cover boundary, pulled the next ball to the mid-wicket boundary and drove the next ball along the ground to the long-off boundary.  After a dot ball he pulled the penultimate ball for another boundary and pinched a single to take Australia’s target  below 100

Weatherald thumped Carse to the long-boundary.  A couple of balls later he tried to pull Carse but got a leading edge and the ball went straight up in the air and Duckett at cover took a simple catch.

Head hit Archer straight back over his head for another six and he glanced  Atkinson off his hips to the fine leg boundary.  He flat  batted Atkinson to the long-off boundary to take him to 99.  A single off his next ball took him to his century off 69 balls. It was the third fastest century by an Australian equal with David Warner.

He pulled Carse to the square leg boundary to take the runs required below 20. Later in the over he brutally pulled Carse  to the mid-wicket.  He tried to hit the next ball  for a six but found Pope.

Marnus Labuschange drilled Carse to the mid wicket boundary and a couple of balls later he pulled Carse through mid-wicket for three.  He delicately chipped 

Atkinson to the point boundary to bring up the hundred partnership with Head.  He smashed Root over long-on for a six to bring up his 50 with one needed to win.

England captain Stokes said: “It was pretty tough out there, we were pretty confident of our abilities to bowl them out. They sent Head out  there to play a role and he had an answer to everything that we threw at him. He took the bowling on. Our guys who were successful were the ones who took the ball on. We’ve got to let our emotions sink in today. It's good to hurt, but we’ve got to go to Brisbane with no baggage.  We’ve been here before and we know how to come back.”

Our bowling performance yesterday was phenomenal, we had the Aussies jumping around and finding it hard to score.”

SCORECARD