Australia have claimed a strong nine-wicket victory over England to take a one-nil lead in the five-match Ashes series.
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Australia thrashed England by nine wickets in the opening Gabba Test to take a 1-0 lead in the ongoing five-match Ashes series. The Aussies were handed a target of just 20 runs for victory, having delivered a fantastic performance with the ball on Day 4. England had shown grit in pulling back their large first-innings deficit on Day 3, resulting in optimism over a nail-biting finish. However, Pat Cummins-led Australia delivered the goods when it mattered the most. Dawid Malan was the the first to depart, following a bat-pad catch to Marnus Labuschagne for Nathan Lyon’s 400th Test wicket. Lyon became the 17th bowler to reach the milestone as well as the third Australian after Shane Warne and Glenn McGrath. The spinner followed it up with a cheap dismissal of Ollie Pope for four, which certainly put pressure on England skipper Joe Root who played a false shot on 89, handing Cameron Green an invaluable dismissal. Debutant Alex Carey was in the thick of action and excellent behind the stumps, pulling off 8 catches with the gloves which is a record in the longest format.
Cummins and Hazlewood accounted for the dismissals of Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler without much ado, with Lyon soon cleaning up the tail to ensure a comprehensive win.
“Really enjoyed it, lot of things did go right probably from the toss, overcast conditions, wicket had a bit in it and to turn up on day 2 – under blue skies, someone’s smiling over me. Really proud of everyone. A really complete performance, the bowlers did everything on day 1 and Marnus-Davey with a big partnership and the way Travis played, it is a sign of a really positive group. I was happy everyone stuck to it – we bowled without much luck yesterday, fair with all the luck on day 1,” said Cummins as quoted by Cricbuzz.
“That’s why we want him in the side, he can take the game away in a couple of hours, we have seen him do it for South Australia. He averages 45 now, he is still young but is an old pro with the amount of first-class cricket he has played and hopefully he is away now [on Travis Head]. He was a little bit sore yesterday, with a five-match Test series, did not want to try and break him yesterday and he pulled up OK today [on Hazlewood]. When I had 20 to go, we couldn’t find him [smiles], we looked everywhere in the stadium. He is fine, we did not want to risk him and he will be alright for Adelaide [on David Warner],” he added.
England were dismissed for 147 in their first innings, as Pat Cummins accounted for a five-wicket haul to start his captaincy stint on a sublime note. Australia responded with a score of 425, as Travis Head scored a fine 152, having enjoyed support from David Warner (94) and Marnus Labuschagne (74) as well. Root and Malan (82) attempted to pull off a turnaround, but it was not to be.
