Cummins strikes as England remain watchfull

What a start to the Ashes series of 2017/18! The first day consisted of some outstanding cricket from both teams as England are left at 4/196 at stumps on the first day. This is what test cricket is all about, where both teams are fighting to get every run and every wicket on what was a decent batting pitch. 

After England skipper; Joe Root elected to bat first on the first day, it was clear that it was the right decision as the pitch was more suited to the batters after the first half hour was played out. However, Alistair Cook was again dismissed with a length ball outside off, where he was caught at first slip leaving England at 1/2. But, with a classy 83 composed by James Vince and a solid 53 by Mark Stoneman, lead a strong fightback to be at 1/127 before Pat Cummins struck with the ball. Hats off to both batsmen for getting through what was a very good display of bowling by the Australians who took a fairly sedated approach. It was fairly obvious that the Australian plans where to land the ball on a consistent line and length, which meant that bowlers like Mitchell Starc showed less agression. Hence, it was a little suprising to see the short ball was not utilised by Starc and a bit more agression by the rest of the bowlers earlier in the first session and after lunch. 

Mitchell Starc bowled a fantastic opening spell, to dismiss Alistair Cook (2 runs), who again is not showing many signs of good form. However, it was suprising to see that he did not show as much aggression as he is certainly known for. Josh Hazelwood, on the other hand looked fairly out of sorts, with the likes of James Vince and Mark Stoneman capitalising on his bowling. Whilst he finishes with a healthy economy rate at the end of day one, I am sure that the Australian team and fans would want to see a little more consistency. Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon where the two bowlers who certainly lit up the Australian team with Cummins dismissing Stoneman and Joe Root, and Lyon getting the crucial runout of Vince for 83. It is these short aggressive spells that Cummins produced that change the vibe around the ground. And with Hazelwood finding his groove towards the end of the day added more pressure on Vince, which ultimately led to a fantastic runout by Nathan Lyon at point. In my opinion the best bowler of the day certainly had to go to Pat Cummins with his agressive spells, certainly put England on the back foot at times. But it is also important to include Nathan Lyon certianly contributed to many of the wickets that had fallen at the other end, with his consistent turn and bounce definitely caused trouble for the English batsmen. 

The best batting performance of the day, in my opinion was by James Vince, who produced a fine 83 runs against a very good and consistent bowling display. Coming in at 1/2 and having the mentality to fight through session by session certainly would have given him plenty of confidence that he can play at this level. His remarkable stroke play through the off side was something that I heavily admired as he looked at complete ease for most of his innings and showed plenty of character to be patient and leave the ball. Whilst he is only in the early stages of innings, Dawid Malan, has looked fairly nice at the crease seeing out the day on 28 not out with Moin Ali on 13 not out. 

With England sitting on 4/196 it is clear that England's plan is to wear the Aussies down. And that is what they have shown for a good part of the day. However, come day 2 of this match, if the Aussies can pick up 2 quick wickets, we could be looking at England being bowled out for less than 300 before tea. Australia must not take the batsman at the crease currently for granted, Moin Ali has been in sublime form with both bat and ball and Dawid Malan is coming off a century. Thus Australia should be aggressive in the morning and aim to take at least two early wicketsand have a go at the tail just before lunch. Hence, I could see Australia batting just around tea time after England make a score of around 290-300 all out. 

Lets hope for another fantastic day of test cricket tommorrow morning.