Things couldn’t have gone better for the Aussies, who won the last Test in Adelaide despite missing their two premier quicks, including skipper Pat Cummins, and now kept England down below the 200-mark after opting to bowl in the morning. The hosts bundled out England for just 185 runs before adding 61 runs on the board at the cost of only one wicket till stumps.
Returning from a break due to COVID protocols breach, the captain led his side from the front, taking three wickets for just 36 off his 15 overs. He was ably supported by senior partners Mitchell Starc (2/54) and Nathan Lyon (3/36). The trio’s overwhelming presence meant that Australia didn’t miss the services of injured Josh Hazlewood, who many felt would’ve been nearly unplayable on an MCG deck offering pacers good bounce and seam movement.
Cummins would also have been delighted to see Scott Boland warm up with the Test game quickly. Making his Test debut, he showed some nerves in the beginning. But returned to bowl with more control and discipline and ended the innings with 1/48. Allrounder Cameron Green also bowled his eight overs superbly and took a wicket at the cost of just seven runs.
A collective bowling performance meant that Australia could pile on excessive pressure on England batters and wait for the cookie to crumble, which is what exactly happened for the best part of two sessions and a half.
Three Lions lost their openers Haseeb Hameed (0) and Zak Crawley (12) very early. Having made the call to drop Rory Burns and persist with Hameed, the tourists would have expected better returns from him. But the young batter failed on another innings of the trip. Once Australia managed to build inroads with the new ball, they never looked back.
Amidst that, however, the great Joe Root played another of his fighting knocks for his team and the country. Root struck a valiant half-century to steady the ship somewhat at his end. But once he departed after edging Starc through to the wicketkeeper, England had no wall to hide behind.
They kept losing wickets at regular intervals and eventually got out for another sub-par score for the conditions. Apart from Root, only wicketkeeper-batter Jonny Bairstow (35) showed resistance for a length of time. The rest simply couldn’t stand up to the task against some excellent bowling in challenging circumstances, throwing light on England’s longstanding batting issues.
Allrounder Ben Stokes (25) and Ollie Robinson (22) were the only others to cross the 20-run mark in an embarrassing scorecard for the tourists.
After the change of innings, Australian openers showcased the level of discipline, patience and skill that their English counterparts lacked. Marcus Harris (20*) and the experienced, in-form David Warner (38) batted superbly near the stumps in the final session, where it seemed for the large part that England would go to close without taking a wicket.
But then, just as Warner was setting his eyes on a big score, he got out to opposition’s best bowler James Anderson to raise a glimmer of hope within the touring camp. But after a terrific day with the ball, Australia finished only 124 runs shy of the England score at stumps on Day 1.
Brief scores
Australia 61/1 in 16 overs (Warner 38, Harris 20*; Anderson 1/14) trail England 185/10 in 65.1 overs (Root 50, Bairstow 35; Cummins 3/35) by 124 runs
