England’s Ashes series got off to a poor start last night out in Australia.
The Barmy Army lost a wicket from the very first ball of the day, as Mitchell Starc’s peach of a delivery dismissed Rory Burns for a duck.
Starc dismissed the left-handed opener after it looked as though Burns had shuffled too far across the wicket. The Australian’s in-swinger rattled the leg-stump, sending the 42,000-seater, The Gabba, into a frenzy early on.
Earlier on in the week, England captain Joe Root spoke about building a siege mentality across the dressing room after being asked about how he felt about the atmosphere in Brisbane.
“It’s an opportunity for us to get really tight and stand up to that. It’s going to have to be.
"More than anything we just need to make sure it doesn’t affect the way we go about things on the field. We’ll just embrace it, enjoy the atmosphere and try to thrive off that sort of arena as much as we can.”
However, so far, it doesn’t seem as though Chris Silverwood’s side will be enjoying the atmosphere Down Under.
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Skipper Root fell for zero just after Josh Hazlewood removed Dawid Malan (6), with England 11-3.
Pat Cummins claimed 5-38 on opening day, as Stuart Broad and James Anderson watched along on the sidelines after both were omitted due to injury. It’s the first time in 15 years England have played an Ashes Test without at least one of them.
Cummins dismissed Ben Stokes to make it 29-4, whilst Haseeb Hameed (25), Jos Buttler (39) and Ollie Pope (35) provided some resistance for England.
On the stroke of tea, the Australian captain picked up his fifth wicket, becoming the first captain in an Ashes game to do so since Bob Willis in 1982. The haul also made the right-handed bowler the first Aussie skipper to do so since Richie Benaud.
England were all out for 147, as the rain arrived during the break.
The Aussies will begin their reply on day two, hoping for a much more successful batting start than the one England got off to on day one.