Match Details

AUS vs ENG 1st TEST, The Ashes 2021-22

team important image
AUS 425(104.3)
20-15.1
Australia won by 9 wickets
147(50.1)
ENG
103.0297-10
team image
3rd Over:
1
0
nb
1
0
0
3
 
= 6
4th Over:
0
0
0
0
2
0
 
= 2
Last Over:
0
3
1
0
1
W
 
= 5
This Over:
4
 
= 4

Player of the Match

Travis Head Logo
Travis Head Jersy
Travis Head
Australia
152(148)

Commentary

All
Highlights
Overs
W
6s
4s
Inn 1
Inn 2
Inn 3
Inn 4
Milestone
A great start to the Ashes. Australia takes a 1-0 lead. We had a great time in the commentary box over the course of four days. The second Test at Adelaide will be a day-night encounter starting from 16th December (Wednesday). Till then' it's adieous from me (Arya Sekhar Chakraborty) and my fellow mates Akshay Bhide and Ninaad Dixit. 
Travis Head, Man of the Match- Great to get the knock and great to contribute. Great starting point for us as a team. A lot of credit to Davey and Marnus partnership. I learnt a lot from the way Buttler played. I rode my luck and took my opportunity.

Just lived the whole moment. The emotion of Test cricket and just the way the crowd reacted. It was just the motion coming out. He came back beautifully. Yesterday he was disappointed to not get the results. He is a fantastic bowler. He is an excellent worker, an excellent t team man. I will enjoy the day-night Test in Adelaide. Cannot wait to get a home mate. 
Pat Cummins- First of all I really enjoyed captaincy. Lot of things went right from the toss. Really proud of everyone. Complete performance. Again I was really happy with the way we bowled. We bowled without much luck yesterday. Everyone was good, everyone was positive. Everyone tried to get that breakthrough early today. I mean that's why we wanted Head in the side.

He can take the game away from you in two hours. We have seen him doing it for South Australia. Hazlewood was a bit sore yesterday. It's a five match series. Didn't want to break him early in the series. We couldn't find Warner. Didn't want to risk him but he will be good for Adelaide. 
Joe Root- Frustrating. We worked hard to get ourselves back in the game yesterday. We knew how important the first session was. We wanted to go to the new ball unscathed. That partnership gave us a really good opportunity and would have kept us in the game. 

The pitch developed throughout the day. Had some sideways movement of the deck. A few of the cracks that were baring. Its a shame we couldn't fight out the initial phase. It could have been very different. I think it's easy to look back in hindsight. We wanted to have variety in the attack and move to different gears. We put down many chances. We wanted to change the pace of the game and move through. It is easy to say these things but we created several but couldn't quite hold onto it. 

They banged in the areas they wanted to. We have to field well. We know where to improve. But the fight we showed in the second innings it was great. I didn't allow Leach to settle in giving him too attacking fields. He is a good bowler. It does and as you know in a five-match series we cannot feel too much sorry for one bad performance.

So much to play for in the rest of the matches. Absolutely, there are lot of good things to take from the game. We created a huge amount of chances. We were in the wrong side of that two and half hours play of the second morning. These things happen. You have to learn from these games and move forward.
Arya: Australia seized control of the match on Day 1 itself after bowling out England for just 147 runs. It was high-quality fast bowling on display by the four Australian quicks. Newly appointed Test skipper Pat Cummins had a dream day bagging a fifer on his captaincy debut. He was quite lethal with his areas and finished with figures of 5/38. Mitchell Starc started the day’s play with the wicket of Rory Burns on the first delivery of Test before the other bowlers made sure England didn’t even score 150 in their first innings. 

Only 50 overs were possible on Day 1 due to persistent showers. Australia lost the wicket of Marcus Harris early on but it was David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne who shared a 156 runs stand which ensured Australia stamped their authority in the match. The English bowlers came back strongly in the second session bagging four quick wickets as Australia lost 4 wickets for 29 runs. 

The final session all but belonged to Travis Head who scored one of the finest Ashes century. He played some delightful shots and took the attack to the English fast-bowlers scoring his century in just 84 deliveries. The only spin option for England, Jack Leach was taken to the cleaners by Warner and Head as Australia piled the agony on the English attack. 

Head reached a well deserved 150 on Day 3, giving Australia a huge lead of 278 runs. England needed to bat out of their skin to claw their way back into the game. After fighting it out for 9 overs, Cummins accounted for Burns. Hameed looked solid during his stay in the crease but was dismissed just when he started settling down. 

England needed a big partnership and it was provided by skipper Joe Root and Dawid Malan. Both applied themselves brilliantly and played some delightful shots all through the final two sessions on Day 3. They batted brilliantly and their unbeaten partnership of 159 runs ensured England was well and truly back in the game. 

Having started the 4th day’s play just 58 runs behind Australia, England would have hoped to wipe of the Australian lead without losing too many wickets. However, the Australian bowlers had other ideas and accounted for the last 8 wickets for just 77 runs. 

Arya: A convincing victory for the hosts. After a brilliant partnership between skipper Joe Root and Dawid Malan yesterday, it was all about the Australian pacers and Nathan Lyon on Day 4 as they skittled out England for just 297 runs. The visitors lost 8 wickets for just 77 runs, giving Australia only 20 runs to chase in the 4th innings. 

England began the day’s play on 220/2. They hoped to see of the first hour of the day’s play without any loss of wickets but that wasn’t to be. While it was all about grit and determination from the duo on Day 3, they couldn’t quite apply themselves on Day 4 morning playing at deliveries which they shouldn’t have. 

All of a sudden, Malan started stepping down the track to Nathan Lyon and one had his name written on it after surviving a few close shaves. Cameron Green bowled a magnificent spell and bagged the prized wicket of Joe Root with an away swinger at length outside the off-stump. In hindsight, he could have left that alone. 

Ollie Pope went early as well as Lyon bagged his 401st Test wicket. It turned and bounced steeply from a length and got the glove of Pope straight to Steve Smith at slip. Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler shared a breezy 32 runs stand which included some aggressive shots. Buttler played some exquisite reverse sweeps, while Stokes also looked in good knick. However, their partnership was short-lived as Pat Cummins accounted for Stokes with a brilliant delivery. The ball didn’t bounce as much as Stokes would have expected and got an outside edge which carried through to the gully fielder. 

Buttler followed his partner soon and there was no way back for England. Chris Woakes looked solid during his knock of 16 and was the last man to be dismissed. The small run-chase of 20 was never going to bother the Aussies. David Warner didn’t come out to open the innings after receiving a blow on the rib in the first innings. Instead, it was Alex Carey who started proceedings with Marcus Harris. Ollie Robinson dismissed him with a brilliant away swinger with England just 4 runs away from the target. Eventually, it was Labuschagne and Harris who took Australia over the line with 9 wickets in hand. 

5.1 M Wood to M Harris
4 Wood has been greeted with a boundary and Harris finishes things in style. Australia complete an emphatic win over England and continue their impressive Ashes record at the Gabba. Wood starts with a fuller delivery outside off, Harris leans forward and creams it through the off side for a boundary. With this, Australia seal the game by nine wickets. A win on Test captaincy debut for Pat Cummins and Australia go 1-0 up in the series. 
OVER 5
Australia
16/1
Marnus Labuschagne
0(0)
Marcus Harris
5(9)
Oliver Edward Robinson
1-13(3.0)
4.6 Robinson to A Carey
W Edged and gone. Carey fails to stay till the end as Robinson picks a wicket. Robinson has bowled brilliantly for England in this Test and he picks another wicket. Bowls it in the corridor of uncertainty, Carey pokes at it and ends up getting a faint edge and Buttler behind the stumps does the rest. 
4.5 Robinson to M Harris
1 Robinson again bowls it full on the pads, Harris flicks it behind square for a single.
4.4 Robinson to M Harris
0 Good length delivery on the stumps, Harris defends it on the front foot. 
4.3 Robinson to A Carey
1 Full and shaping in on the pads, Carey clips it towards long leg and rotates the strike. 
4.2 Robinson to M Harris
3 Nicely punched off the backfoot by Harris. Robinson bowls it short outside off, Harris stands tall and punches it in the gap in the off side and completes three runs. 
4.1 Robinson to M Harris
0 Good length delivery on the stumps, Harris defends it straight.
Commentary