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Key events
Brian Withington is still lapping up Mitchell Starc’s opening over – and, I’d hope, his entire spell – while writing headlines for Fleet Street to consider running in the UK morning. “Starc starts series shabbily but successfully with sixth ball scrambled seam shocker!”
Mixed emotions feeding through.
“England, overconfident and underprepared,” Peter Morris from Brisbane says. “If the MCC has a procedure manual for touring Australia, I suspect Andrew Strauss was the last person to read it.”
Alex Thomas has just woken up in Almaty, Kazakhstan and has picked up the pace of the ball immediately: “Why did England choose to bat first in this green top? Was this to negate the threat of Nathan Lyon in the fourth innings of the pitch breaks up?”
Lunch: England 105-4
Well, that lived up to the hype! Mitchell Starc (three for 24) ripped through England’s top order with Zak Crawley setting the tone with a loose drive in the opening over, Ben Duckett trapped in front, and Joe Root squared up and caught off an edge for a duck. Ollie Pope (46) led the rearguard before missing an inswinger from Cameron Green and wasting a review for lbw, but with the ever-audacious Harry Brook (28no) and captain Ben Stokes (4no) still at the crease there are likely plenty of twists and turns to come.
23rd over: England 105-4 (Brook 28, Stokes 4) CRACK! Brook charges Starc again from the first ball of the over and smacks the left-armer to the rope at long-off. The shot of the day welcomes the last over before lunch. Stokes picks up a couple more with a straight drive as England move into three figures but with four wickets already down.
22nd over: England 98-4 (Brook 23, Stokes 2) Nathan Lyon replaces Cameron Green immediately after the all-rounder takes a wicket. Strange call. Ben Stokes gets off the mark with an all-too easy single with a nudge towards a vast gap at cover. Brook eases the off-spinner off his pads for a pair of singles.
21st over: England 94-4 (Brook 21, Stokes 0) Starc has already taken three wickets in six overs and the lunch break is within sight. Yet Brook charges the left-armer, steps back to give himself room and looks to uppercut the ball over point or whoknowswhere. The No 5 is fortunate to only barely be beaten by the bounce. Where is the balance between playing a natural game and simple game sense? A maiden over.
Mitchell Starc returned for the start of Cameron Green’s over and is ready to take the cherry as Australia – and captain Steve Smith – go for the jugular with Ben Stokes joining Harry Brook at the crease. Another wicket before lunch would have the hosts well and truly on top.
WICKET! Pope lbw b Green 46 (England 94-4)
Cameron Green breaks through in his opening over – and first in a Test for more than 18 months – when trapping Ollie Pope in front. The ball swings into and across the right-hander, straightens up just enough, and crashes into the pads. Pope reluctantly reviews, there is no signs of bat on ball, and the decision goes to umpire’s call for hitting leg stump.
20th over: England 94-4 (Brook 21, Stokes 0)
19th over: England 84-3 (Pope 38, Brook 19) Nathan Lyon comes on for his first over since being left out of Australia’s last Test in the Caribbean. After a sighter for Brook, the No 5 and Pope work Lyon around the field with a single, single, two, single, single on the offside. Easy runs!
18th over: England 78-3 (Pope 36, Brook 15) Mitchell Starc has removed himself from the action after stumbling while fielding a ball in the previous over and appearing to roll his left ankle. He grabbed at his lower leg straight away. One run from the Doggett over as Brook clips a straight ball to square leg.
17th over: England 77-3 (Pope 36, Brook 14) A tighter and quieter over from Scott Boland to Harry Brook with only a no-ball added to England’s score. That’s until the last ball when Brook sets off for a quick single, Marnus Labuschagne pounces and the No 5 has to dive back into his crease. A single is added as the throw edges past the stumps but that was a close call.
16th over: England 75-3 (Pope 36, Brook 13) Doggett continues and the England pair look comfortable with the pace dropping closer to 130km/h. Four singles from the over as the Australia field begins to spread with the run-rate beyond 4.5.
15th over: England 71-3 (Pope 34, Brook 12) High risk, high reward from Harry Brook as the powerful No 5 looks to attack Scott Boland. Brook counts his blessings as an outrageous swing and a miss fails to connect with a ball outside offstump, then pulls out a classic straight drive to the rope.
14th over: England 66-3 (Pope 33, Brook 8) Doggett begins by bending Pope over with a delivery that nips off the seam and back into the right-hander. The England No 3 responds by punishing a fuller delivery with a clip off the pads past mid-on for four, and adds three more with a mis-timed square cut through point. Pope is going at a strike-rate above 75 with little effort.
13th over: England 59-3 (Pope 26, Brook 8) An Indigenous Australian bowls from each end for the first time in Tests as Scott Boland replaces Mitchell Starc. After an untidy opening spell the Victorian is back on the money from the opposite end – he has a remarkably better average bowling as first change rather than when taking the new ball. Ollie Pope takes one step forward and punches a straight drive back past the bowler for three runs. And while Starc has a breather, here is the wicket that become his third of the day and 100th in the Ashes.
12th over: England 56-3 (Pope 23, Brook 8) Brendan Doggett continues but without quite the same fire that accompanied his first over in international cricket. Harry Brook has quickly made his intentions clear despite England being on the ropes with three wickets down, and ends the over by dancing around the crease to give himself room and caressing a boundary through point.
Martin Pegan
Thank you Jonathan. And thank you to the Ashes for an hour of high drama that more than lived up to the hype. The fine wine of fast bowling that Mitchell Starc has become ripped through England’s top order with 3 for 17 from six overs, while Australia have been reminded of the gulf in class between the members of their usual “Big Three” and the next tier. But Brendan Doggett sent down a lively first over, and with drinks now consumed, takes the ball again.
Jonathan Howcroft
11th over: England 50-3 (Pope 22, Brook 3) Lol. Harry Brook’s second delivery: skipping down the pitch and out to the legside to give himself room to slash a mistimed drive for three through the covers… against the triple-wicket rockets of Mitchell Starc… with England 43-3. Starc is wider to Pope, who is in turn more circumspect, until the line is straight enough to uppercut over the slips for four. England delivering on all metrics so far.
And that’s drinks. Time for me to hand the reins back to Martin Pegan. Thank you for your company, I’ll see you again during the series.
10th over: England 43-3 (Pope 18, Brook 0) Excellent start from Doggett, finding a line and length from the outset, getting a hint of movement in off the pitch, drawing Pope off his length and testing the inside edge. One wayward delivery clips the pads on its way to the fine-leg fence, but that’s a promising start nonetheless.
First bowling change of the series with debutant Doggett replacing the ineffective Boland… and his opening delivery is almost a wicket! Right-arm over to Pope, perfect line and length, drawing the batter forward, ducking inside the gate and grazing the bails as it hurries through to Carey.
9th over: England 39-3 (Pope 18, Brook 0) No Cummins, no Hazlewood, no problem. Mitchell Starc: five overs 3/10.
Apologies England fans staying up, or just waking up, this is the nightmare scenario.
WICKET! Root c Labuschagne b Starc 0 (England 39-3)
Starc is too wide to Root for a few deliveries before the Yorkshireman tries his trademark backfoot punch, but the ball gets big on him and it all becomes a bit ungainly. Then Starc finds another beauty out of nowhere to land on middle, on a good length, draw the shot, and induce a leading edge that carries at speed to Labuschagne at third slip. Joe Root goes for a duck!
“As ever my coping mechanism for dealing with Crawley is to get on Statsguru,” emails Ian Truman. “His batting average is now officially closer to that of Ashley Giles than it is of his opening partner. If that’s an unfair standard, then he’s also closer to James Tredwell than he is to Andrew Strauss. Anyway, I’m not sure my coping strategy is working.”
“The primary quality in an opener is to get stuck in and weather the storm, run the “pitch count” up, expose a few vulnerabilities, and make the statement: “Bring it on mate, we’re ready”. Zak Crawley will never ever be a quality opener. He’s the wrong guy.” Ben Barclay there with a not uncommon opinion.
8th over: England 39-2 (Pope 18, Root 0) Boland has not settled with the new ball, struggling for line and especially length. Again he’s too full and Pope – batting out of his crease and inching forward with his trigger movement – is onto in a flash, driving through mid-off for four.
“How predictable. Sir Geoffrey is right about Crawley,” emails Peter Metcalfe. “He should not be a Test opener. Apart from being a technically terrible shot, it is just so arrogant and entitled. And massive pressure on the rest of the side.”
No… but that was close! Full and straight from Boland, met with a firm push from Pope back down the ground. The big Victorian got a fingertip to the shot to deflect it onto the non-striker’s stumps. Root was alert enough to turn and jab his bat down before the bails came off. Yowza!
Has Root been run-out backing up?
Half-an-hour gone, time for some brief reflection. The pitch: no demons, true bounce. The ball: doing nothing laterally. The bowlers: aside from Starc’s first over, wayward, struggling to find that very precise length. The batters: as expected, playing their shots, without always looking assured.
7th over: England 33-2 (Pope 12, Root 0) In comes Joe Root, the key protagonist in the series? And after an easy leave he flashes and misses a Starc stock ball angling across him. Replays of the wicket ball show a skerrick of in-swing that turned a half-volley on Duckett’s pads into a wicked delivery. Classic Mitchell Starc. Without Cummins and Hazlewood he was required to step up as the leader of the attack and that’s exactly what he’s done.
WICKET! Duckett LBW Starc 21 (England 33-2)
Pope works a two then a single without much fuss, which brings Duckett on strike. Starc then pulls a classic full, straight, missile, out of nowhere to thunder the new ball into the England opener’s pads bang in front. Very very plumb. Unless there’s an inside edge? Duckett reviews, on the off-chance, but no dice. Starc has two, and years of Bazball preparation is being unstitched in Perth.
6th over: England 30-1 (Duckett 21, Pope 9) England are not going to die wondering. Not for the first time today Pope throws his hands at a delivery outside off stump without finding the middle of the bat for a couple. To be fair, it was a bad delivery from Boland that warranted attacking, but the spectacle did not reveal a batter in complete control of his game. Two deliveries later another drive on the up earns a further single, but it excites Ricky Ponting on commentary for being the nick-shot on this kind of surface. Boland has not settled into that nick-length consistently yet, struggling with the right-left combination and he is punched down the ground for the most handsome boundary of the innings so far when he overpitches once again to the confident Duckett. The bowler almost exacts his revenge by dragging his length back and inducing a cramped cut shot that almost feathers an edge.
5th over: England 23-1 (Duckett 17, Pope 6) Now it’s Pope’s turn to get to the pitch of the ball and hit through the line. He only earns three from it, but it’s a nice drive through the covers to a Starc delivery angling across him. Starc responds by wobbling a beauty past Duckett’s outside edge with the opener trapped on the crease. But that line doesn’t persist as the bowler searches for swing, only to leak onto Duckett’s pads and be tickled fine for four more as the scoreboard continues to tick over. Duckett then upbraids himself for missing out on a short and wide delivery that was begging to be cut. He connects firmly with the final delivery but his muscular drive is straight to wide mid-off.
“What the Eff was Zak playing at with that shot?” asks Outolokowsji. “After so long a build up, and he wafts at a bit of eighth stump filth. As an avowed follower of Kent, all I can say, after the months and months of overblown hype is: Zak, what the eff!? Head in hands.”
4th over: England 16-1 (Duckett 13, Pope 3) Duckett backs up that punchy boundary with a similar shot for two through the off side. It’s an indication of how full Boland is bowling, searching for the rash drive that elicits an outside edge. After 11 deliveries bowling around the wicket, angling into the England left-hander, Boland moves over, and is immediately clubbed through mid-off for a second boundary of the over. Overpitched and dispatched in customary fashion. Risk-reward cricket from both teams.
The first boundary of the Ashes arrives off the 19th delivery. A fraction too full from Boland and Duckett is into position early to execute a compact straight drive that gives mid-on no chance.
3rd over: England 6-1 (Duckett 3, Pope 3) Following the change of spikes Starc loses his line and ends up too straight or legside to Pope, then overcorrects harmlessly outside off. This waywardness helps identify the absence of any swing for Starc, which England’s top order must be pleased about.
Mike Elcock is watching from Canada. “Cousin of the (very) late Alf Gover & captain of the Edinburgh Academy team that put on 225 for the first wicket in York (of all places) against Bootham School. My pal Nick is watching this in Paris. Jerry who got 157 of that score is watching in England. Here am I on the far west coast of Canada (Victoria, Vancouver Island) waiting for the bloody game to start. If it’s not on soon I’ll have to watch the Vancouver Canucks vs Dallas in tonight’s ice hockey game. Nonetheless, despite Aussie missing Hazelwood & Cummins, I’m for the underdog . . . England!”
“Sitting here at home in the Perth hills, I have a really bad feeling about this,” emails Richard Pearce. “Is it just because I am, by nature a pessimistic POM? Is it because I have had so many years of disappointment that it is intrinsically ingrained in my psyche? Or is it because we are actually overconfident and under prepared? As a nation England seems to have collective amnesia when it comes to touring Australia. In general, we get obliterated on the rocks of Aussie cricket, I don’t see this being any different to be honest. Ah well, off to watch the first ball with hope in my heart and trepidation in my brain.”
2.2 over: England 6-1 (Duckett 3, Pope 3) Yikes! Pope gets lucky with a cue end cut shot that he’s onto late, sending the ball on the bounce to Smith at second slip. That looked very ugly. Then there’s a slight delay as Starc changes his spikes.
2nd over: England 6-1 (Duckett 3, Pope 3) Replays do no favours to Zak Crawley’s dismissal. No footwork, trying to drive on the up through the covers to a length delivery with a new ball on a Perth pitch. All the planning, all the backing-in, all the positive vibes, and then that.
Meanwhile, after his initial escape, Duckett nudges a single to get England moving, then Pope gets a thickish outside edge to run three. Boland never backs up his excellent start and ends up leaking a couple more runs on Duckett’s pads to end the over.
Boland’s first delivery to Ben Duckett is a jaffa! From around the wicket it angles in, pitches just outside off stump and seams away, beating the edge.
Scott Boland, not Brendan Doggett, will share the new ball.
That was exactly what England fans feared might happen. And exactly what Mitchell Starc was born to do.
WICKET! Crawley c Khawaja b Starc o (England 0-1)
Tempting line and length from Starc from the off, bowling his left-arm missiles from over the wicket to the right-handed Crawley. The English opener got forward comfortably to the first, left the second with aplomb… then aimed a massive windy whoosh to the third that gets nowhere near connecting and beats the outside edge. Sensibly, Crawley goes back to leaving the fourth delivery on length. Starc, pushing the ball fuller, is then met with a compact drive but it’s straight to mid-off. The bowler persists, the batter can’t rein himself in twice in a row and slashes an ugly flat-footed drive to first slip where Khawaja clings on at the second attempt, tumbling backwards, and Australia are in dreamland!
1st over: England 0-1 (Duckett 0, Pope 0)
The first ball of the Ashes… is a length delivery from Starc met with a solid forward defensive into the covers by Crawley.
The tall right-handed Zak Crawley whirls his arms over as the diminutive left-handed Ben Duckett scoots sideways across the boundary rope and into the middle.
Opening over specialist Mitchell Starc is marking out his run.
If you’re not excited now, I fear you never will be.
This is not a drill. The 2025-26 Ashes is about to get under way.
Plenty of travelling English fans in the crowd lend their voices to God Save the King. Far more locals harmonise Advance Australia Fair.
Umpires today are Adrian Holdstock (South Africa) and Nitin Menon (India). Sharfuddoula (Bangladesh) is the TV umpire. Ranjan Madugalle (Sri Lanka) is the match refree.
Alastair Cook and Justin Langer walk to deep mid-off and place the Ashes crystal vase onto a plinth before the two sets of players are invited to line up for the national anthems.
“Of course, I don’t know them personally,” emails Gary Naylor, “but the Australian Men’s Cricket Team (certainly in the excellent The Test Season 2) come across as a mix of pleasant young men laced with a little eccentricity, working together under Patrician Pat. Scott Boland appears to be such a nice guy that I almost want him to succeed tonight – though ‘almost’ is doing a bit of heavy lifting there.
England, a feeling underlined by Ben and Baz interviews on BBC radio today, seem stocked with outwardly polite gentlemen who hide a fist of steel in the velvet glove of their soft voices and media training homilies. Would Lillee and Thommo feel more at home in the England sheds these days? And does it even matter?”
Based on my personal interactions with Thommo, the answer is, and will forever be, categorically no.
The teams are making their way out to the perimeter of the oval ready to enter the field of play for the pre-match formalities.
Welcome to Andrew Bartlett in Brooklyn, DJ Melhuish in the Philippines, and Scotty from the Midlands, who has my commiserations after just being sacked. “Long boring story and completely unjustified but hoping the cricket will cheer me up. Looking forwards to pretending to job hunt for the next ten weeks.”
