A dramatic collapse of the English batting order, brought forth by the wily Nathan Lyon, meant that the Aussies romped home to a dominant victory in the first Ashes Test at The Gabba in Brisbane. England, who were in a commanding position at the time of stumps on Day 3, as Malan and Root posted an unbeaten 159-run stand, had a miserable first session, which ultimately led to a demoralising defeat.
Coming into Day 4, England would have hoped that Dawid Malan and captain Joe Root, both batting in their 80s, would carry on the good work, and give them a fighting chance of victory in the least. However, that was not to be, as the Englishmen suffered an all-too-familiar collapse, giving Australia the lead in the all-important Ashes series.
Resuming play at 220/2, England couldn’t have hoped for a worse start, as Malan bat-padded a Nathan Lyon delivery to silly mid-off, giving Lyon his long-overdue 400th Test wicket. Shortly after, Joe Root departed after he nicked a late swinging delivery from youngster Cam Green through to Alex Carey, leaving England in a horrible position, with two new batsmen at the crease.
From this point forward, it only seemed like a matter of time before Australia wrapped up their inevitable victory. Another Nathan Lyon ripper got rid of Ollie Pope, as England were reduced to 234/5. Ben Stokes and Jos Buttler looked good for a while until Aussie skipper Pat Cummins squared up Ben Stokes to send him packing. Buttler was dismissed almost immediately after, as Josh Hazlewood’s wonderful spell of disciplined bowling finally produced a well-deserved wicket.
The England tail could not offer much resistance as they were quickly done away with by Nathan Lyon, who captured four wickets on the day. Chris Woakes, who put up somewhat of a fight, was the victim of some short stuff by Cameron Green, edging it to Carey, ending the English innings, and setting a paltry target of 20 for the Aussies to chase down.
The Men from Down Under had no troubles chasing the total, and gave debutant Alex Carey an opportunity at the top of the order. Carey was dismissed in the fifth over by Ollie Robinson before his opening partner Marcus Harris finished the game off with a boundary to give Australia the victory in the first Test of the 2021/22 Ashes.
Unsurprisingly, Travis Head was named man of the match for his outstanding century in the first innings. Cummins’ tenure as skipper started off with a comfortable win, and he will be happy that he was also able to contribute to the victory, having picked up an excellent five-fer in the first innings. England, on the other hand, will have some thinking to do, but not a lot of time, with the second Test starting in a few days’ time.
Brief scores
England 2nd Innings- (O/N-220/2); 297 All out in 103 overs– (Root-89; Malan-82; Lyon-4/91; Green-2/23)
Australia 2nd Innings- 20/1 in 5.1 overs ( Harris-9*; Robinson-1/13)
Australia beat England in the first Ashes Test match by 9 wickets, lead series 1-0
