Ashes 2013: Best moments from Day 1 of 1st Test

The first round of the much-awaited bout is finally underway as the bright sunny weather settled in at Nottingham, as if it was there to watch the two teams contest, on Wednesday. The first day of the first Ashes 2013 Tests which witnessed 14 wickets ended right in the balance, making for four interesting days to follow. Here were five of the top five moments from the first day at Trent Bridge.

By Prakash Govindasreenivasan

The first round of the much-awaited bout is finally underway as the bright sunny weather settled in at Nottingham, as if it was there to watch the two teams contest, on Wednesday. The first day of the first Ashes 2013 Test, which witnessed 14 wickets, ended right in the balance, making for four interesting days to follow. Here are the top five moments from the first day at Trent Bridge.

1. Ashton Agar’s surprising debut

Amid all the team talk, Australian coach Darren Lehmann decided to take a gamble. Out came the 19-year-old Ashton Agar to bowl his slow left-arm orthodox. The young teenager did not just receive the coveted Baggy Green, there was former bowler and legend Glenn McGrath to hand it over to him.

The move didn’t yield any wicket but it sure would have left the England dressing room curious and even a bit nervous. Thus, Australia drew first blood in unnerving the opposition even before they hit the ground running.
 

2. Jonathan Trott’s wicket — The turning point

Once Alastair Cook won the toss and decided to bat first on what promised to be a flat deck, the talk was all about the inexperienced Australian bowling attack against England’s rock-solid top-order. However, that wasn’t the case as most of them simply threw their wicket away on a lovely morning. The wicket of Jonathan Trott was particularly the turning point.

Known for his sound technique and ability to stay grounded and play big knocks, Trott was caught on the wrong foot. When he walked out to bat, he came out with an astounding batting average of 91.71 against Australia — highest in Tests with minimum criteria being 500 runs. He beat his countryman and former cricketer Edward Paynter to the record. But, on Wednesday, he didn’t do any good to that number.
 
There seemed to be a lapse of concentration at the start of the second session when he chased after a wide delivery and played it on to his stumps. Siddle rode his luck while Trott was visibly miffed with himself. So much that he almost slammed his bat on the stumps but stopped short and walked away.
 

3. Peter Siddle’s fifer rocks England

During the lead up to the tournament, one of the major issues of discussion about the Australian line-up was Peter Siddle. There was a lot of debate about whether this vegetarian fast-bowler should feature in the playing XI on Wednesday. The Victoria pacer has, in the recent past, faced flak for giving up totally on meat. Even in the 2012 series against South Africa, Siddle bowled long spells and had to be left out from the crucial Perth Test due to fitness issues. However, the Siddle we saw at Trent Bridge was a fit and a rejuvenated one.

After James Pattinson removed Alastair Cook early on, Siddle dug his teeth into the England batting line-up to prove that Australia, like always, meant business.  By the 50th over of the game, Siddle had five victims already in the form of Joe Root, Kevin Pietersen, Jonathan Trott, Ian Bell and Matthew Prior. There was no better way to deflate a strong line-up other than dismissing all their key batsmen, and Siddle managed that with panache to end the day with figures of five for 50.

4. England’s fightback

When Pattinson dismissed Graeme Swann for one, England had been skittled out for just 215 in 59 overs. The turn of events were nothing like what the packed crowds at Trent Bridge anticipated. However, they had a reason to leave the stadium with a smile and a great sense of excitement, for the English fought back. They were left groggy by the Australian bowlers but regained momentum to throw a punch across Australia’s face and keep the battle in the balance. By the close of play, Australia were four down for 75, contributing to the wickets tally of the day, which ended at 14. Australia are just 140 runs behind, but could have had an upper hand with more wickets on their side. But that was not to be. Steven Finn gave the fans a lot to cheer as he struck twice in as many deliveries to dismiss Shane Watson and Ed Cowan. A couple of overs later, Michael Clarke was gone too to James Anderson. Chris Rogers showed some fight but he too perished to Anderson.

5. Full house

There can be no better sight in world cricket than that of a sell out crowd for a Test match. In an era when there are growing concerns of the possible death of the oldest and the most sacred form of the game, crowds flocked to watch the two arch-rivals battle it out, and this is only the beginning.
 
The month-long hype and drama surrounding the series was justified by the highly competitive start that both sides have made. With at least 12 sessions of the match still to play, a result is looking like a surety.

Exciting times ahead.

Click here to read all the talking points of Ashes 2013

(Prakash Govindasreenivasan is a reporter with CricketCountry. His Twitter handle is @PrakashG_89)

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