Published: Nov 21, 2013, 03:24 PM (IST)
Edited: Nov 21, 2013, 03:24 PM (IST)
Stuart Broad bagged his 11th five-wicket haul in Tests on Day 1 © Getty Images
Stuart Broad’s brilliant show with the ball helped England take the upper hand after Day One of the first Ashes 2013-14 Test against Australia at the Gabba in Brisbane. His five-wicket haul has put Australia in a spot of bother as they are at 273 for eight at stumps. Broad was definitely the talk of the town on Thursday for more than one reason. Shrikant Shankar looks at various topics from the first day’s play.
The beginning
First and foremost, Australia have been waiting for this for a long time. The pre-match talk was a mixture of many things. In the Australian camp, George Bailey was the main topic as he got to make his Test debut. Mitchell Johnson was selected in the Australian XI ahead of in-form all-rounder James Faulkner. Over in the England side, the big news was Michael Carberry and Chris Tremlett would be playing. The wait was over as Michael Clarke won the toss and decided to bat first on a good wicket.
Broad gets boos
Australia coach Darren Lehmann wanted the Australian public to make Stuart Broad cry after the infamous non-walking incident during the first Ashes 2013 Test at Trent Bridge. A lot has gone on in-between and as the teams took the field after the toss, the Australian public made their voices heard as they booed Broad loudly. There were even comical homemade banners which read ‘I know what you did last summer’, taken from the Hollywood movie directly. But they were not something that would make anyone ‘cry’.
Anderson almost does a Jones
In the morning session, it was more even-stevens between Australia and England. But in one solitary moment the entire series could have been tilted in Australia’s favour. Anderson slid in to collect the ball in the outfield, but his knee got stuck in the turf and he tumbled over. For a moment, every single England player’s and fan’s heart was in their mouth. Anderson did show some discomfort, but in the end all seemed fine with England’s premier bowler. The heart-in-mouth moment came because in the 2002-03 series Down Under, when Simon Jones did the same thing on Day One at the very same Gabba ground and instead of walking back, he got injured and missed the rest of the summer and England lost the series 4-1. Anderson is a brilliant fielder, but routine fielding can still lead to major injuries.
Johnson shows the way against Swann
There is something about Johnson that the England fans love. He has won matches for Australia against the old rivals almost all by himself and also been held responsible for famous losses. On Thursday, he came in when Australia were at 132 for six. He showed great composure and was willing to battle it out in the early part of the innings as England very unquestionably on top. He scored an impressive half-century and the most striking part of his innings was how he played Graeme Swann. The off-spinner is considered to be the best in the world and excellent against the left-handers. On Day One, Johnson played him better than anyone has in recent history.
The pitch did not offer much to Swann in terms of bounce, but there was a hint of spin. Johnson, though, targeted Swann right from the offset and scored freely. He did not come down the track to Swann, but used the depth of the crease well as he struck a lot of boundaries. He also hit two fantastic sixes. The first was hit over long-on and the second was over the bowlers head. Swann had no answer to Johnson’s attacking strokeplay and went onto concede 80 runs in the day without taking a single wicket. Johnson added 114 runs for the seventh wicket with Brad Haddin.
Broad gets warm round of applause
The day, however, belonged to Broad. He took the first four wickets on the day and bowled Johnson late in the day for a brilliant 64. That also allowed England to get another wicket before stumps were called with Australia’s score at 273 for eight. The first four wickets were also top drawer. Chris Rogers, Shane Watson, Michael Clarke and David Warner all perished at the hands of Broad. Not all were great deliveries, but it were the other probing ones that made some of them play loose shots and throw their wickets. At the end of the day, Broad led the England team off the field and he got a warm round of applause from all present at the ground. He might not be their favourite, but the Australian fans showed their appreciation after watching a splendid display of seam bowling.
Aussies ruing opportunity
The main things is that Australia elected to bat and they could not make use of the conditions and are now reeling with not much on the board. The evening session showed that if one applies themselves in, then the scoring gets easier. If Haddin and Johnson could do that lower down the order, the more established batsmen could easily have done better if they had shown more application. Although the bowling was very good, the shots that some of the Aussie batsmen lost their wickets to were poor. One could say, the Australians gifted many of their wickets. So, it is advantage England heading into Day Two.
(Shrikant Shankar is a writer/reporter at CricketCountry.com. Previously he has done audio commentary for various matches involving India, Indian Premier League and Champions League Twenty20 for ESPNSTAR.com. You can follow him on Twitter @Shrikant_23)
