Cummins is Australia's hero!
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Stunning from Pope at short leg, pouncing to his right to cut off a precious run ... but then Cummins opens the face, and runs the winning boundary through deep third!
There's a long chase to cut it off, a desperate dive as they are turning for the second, and then the ball is parried by Crawley into Brook's shins!
Australia draw first blood in the Ashes in an absolute epic! Another absolute epic! England lost their last-but-one Test by one run, they've lost this one by two wickets... redemption for Edgbaston 2005... and if this continues as it's started, we're in for another utter thriller this summer!
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Five to win ... four ... three ...
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Lyon on strike, and a more regulation short-ball field now for Broad, who wants to ask all the questions he can. He swings into the pull second-ball and Pope at short leg takes evasive action, though the ball is scuffed in the air at a catchable height. Hard to expect anyone to stand their ground for that!
Short to Cummins too, twice in a row he's hit on the thigh ... England are asking for errors now... Australia just need to stay patient which is easier said than done...
Fuller length, and Broad pounces in his followthrough to keep Cummins on strike with one to come... but he keeps the strike well with a prod off the back foot to mid-on.
Two for the tie! Super Over anyone?
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Robinson nearly wriggles through
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A second-ball snorter from Robinson rises past Cummins' splice, with two regulation bouncers either side. Not yet tempted to go for broke...
And then the yorker! So well bowled, just about dug out as Cummins gave himself room. That was almost the moment England needed. But Cummins' eye is well in now! Two more short balls mean it's Lyon back on strike, and Stokes removes his cap for a moment... but Broad will continue.
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The chase is into single figures!
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The field is set back with Cummins on strike, Stokes still offering singles with so little to play with, but defending the precious boundaries now. And his second ball is a beauty, zipping round the outside-edge but doesn't find the snick. Broad responds by revving up the crowd once more, but as he attacks the pads, Cummins flicks the single out to deep square.
But then Lyon pings an exquisite clip on the up over long-on! That's an outstanding strike, and the chase is into single figures now!
Just three men and a slip now for Cummins, off the last ball, and he trusts his eye to work the single to deep midwicket. Australia five away!
Huge conflab now, but it will be Robinson to continue... for what might be the final over? Can the Future GOAT turn up for the here and now?
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Tension mounts... 12 to win...
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Half an appeal from Robinson as he slides a fuller length into Cummins' pad, but there's little jeopardy for Australia right now. They are whittling it down with focus. A short ball to Lyon induces a flap on an instinctive pull, but no edge...
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14 to win now
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Broad keeps probing, with two balls of the over remaining he pushes his field back with Lyon on strike, then fires in the full one and nearly snicks him off. He takes the single off the last ball though, so he'll be on strike for Robinson's next...
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Cummins comes to the party!
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Serious stones from the skipper, including a slashing drive past the catcher in the covers and all the way to the rope, via the knee of a sprawling Crawley. Still 17 runs needed, and the new ball is not deviating for England just yet... penny for Anderson's thoughts? It feels as though he was very much part of the decision, but might England need a magic ball or two?
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This time, it IS new-ball time!
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Twelve overs remaining, 27 runs needed. Stuart Broad, now loosened up, has the new nut. Another new challenge for Australia to think about...
A slip returns for the first time in a while, just one man back in the deep on the leg side. Deep gully. But not over-attacking. And why would he when Broad gets the new ball to kick off the deck, leaping past the splice...
But then Broad over-pitches, aiming for the stumps, and Lyon drills a beautiful drive past a wide mid-off!
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Stokes drops a near-stunner!
Bouncer from Broad, a reverse-cup from Stokes at the shorter of two deep midwickets. He clings on from an instant, but can't hold on! Shades of his ridiculous take in the South Africa World Cup match. There are five men out for the bouncer!
Cummins is forced back by the bouncer, and nearly skews a catch to point, but then slams the cut for four. Actually, England haven't taken the new ball yet! They perhaps respect Cummins' power. He's got form for vast six-hitting in clutch moments, at the IPL...
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The Final Countdown
The final 15 overs begin. Australia need 51. England need two wickets. And now what say your tea-leaves?
Root will continue, he's tweaking it nicely against a team still unsure if it is sticking or twisting. And Cummins twists alright! A slam for six, straight over long off! And another slam for six! Australia suddenly need 37 from 14 ... This match, Sampath tells us, has now had the same number of sixes as Edgbaston 2005...
I think it's new rock time... Here's Broad! ... but it's not the new rock yet...
Not New Ball Time! It's Root Time!
Another massive moment in an increasing epic contest. The new ball is due, but Stokes declines to take it! Joe Root had another half-chance in his previous over, a fierce drill back down the ground, which he couldn't hold onto, low to his left. But Stokes responds by giving him one more over as a consequence, and after ripping a huge one past Carey's edge, he lures the massive smack and this time he clings on in front of his face!
And listen to that response from Edgbaston! England are swarming in for the kill now!
To judge by who's been doing the most warming-up, it looks like Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson will be given first dibs when (if) the new ball does get taken, which is intriguing but understandable. They've been the pick of England's quicks with James Anderson having a quiet game - not helped by the missed chance off Khawaja in his first over of this innings, of course. But he admitted to Sky Sports that he was feeling short of game-time after his injury lay-off. And Anderson up your sleeve at the very squeakiest end of a game is no bad option to have.
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Carey gets a life!
Scary for Carey in a high-drama over from Joe Root. First comes a loud appeal for lbw, with Bairstow behind the stumps rightly insisting the ball flicked pad before pad, as he rocked back to cut. The review went upstairs but the ball was missing leg. Carey tried to hit his way out of trouble off his next two balls... the first was mopped up by Stokes diving across from mid-off, but the second bursts through Root's fingers! A hard drill back down the ground, it was travelling but it was catchable! This... is getting squeaky...
A definite upping of Australia's tempo now, with the new ball almost certainly on the minds of the lower-order. More aggression too against Stokes, with Pat Cummins top-edging out of the reach of Ollie Pope at square leg, before Carey launches on the up over the head of mid-off, but short of the rope.
Another hack across the line from Carey against Root, falls short of Anderson at mid-on. They are rolling the dice now. England might not object!
"New rock around the corner here lads," Bairstow reminds everyone. "Dangle that carrot, Joseph"
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Right... where's your money?
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Khawaja falls!
It was always going to happen, wasn't it? Ben Stokes gets Usman Khawaja with a 72mph slower ball that moves back in just a fraction, takes the inside edge as Khawaja looks to run it away fine, and it crashes into the stumps. Stokes stands there with a wry smile and grins, and England are three wickets away now.
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Here's Stokes
A huge cheer from the Hollies as Ben Stokes brings himself on from the Pavilion End, for his first over of Australia's second innings. He'll come around the wicket to the two left-handers and the field suggests he won't be pitching many balls up.
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Khawaja's epic
500 and counting. The number of balls faced by Usman Khawaja in this Test match.
Shiva Jayaraman tells me that this is the first time an Australian batter has faced 500+ balls in a Test since Ricky Ponting did so against India at Adelaide in early 2012.
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Robinson strikes
Another twist! Green shapes to run a length ball away through third but only succeeds in chopping onto his own stumps. The ball came back just a touch off the seam to take the inside edge and divert into the base of off stump. Robinson is right up for this one and runs away deliriously to celebrate, spinning around at cover and belting out a roar.
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A gauge of England's mood
Stuart Broad wanders over to Ahsan Raza and holds the ball up, trying to convince him that it has gone out of shape. Raza responds by showing him that it comfortably fits through the gauge, and Broad has no choice but to throw it back to Robinson.
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Maxi's good mood
Warwickshire's players arrive at Durham for tonight's T20 Blast game...
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Tea: Australia need 98, England need five
Australia's session. They've added 76 for 2 in 29 overs, and one of those was the nightwatchman, Scott Boland. If they can hold their nerve after tea then the first Test will be theirs - not least given England are bowling with a soft, old ball on a slow, dry pitch.
There's a new ball available in 21 overs' time - and given Australia's scoring rate today, they'll have to get a move on if they are to wrap this up before that stage of the innings. But with Moeen clearly struggling and the seamers toiling without much success, England are underdogs from here.
Andrew Miller, ESPNcricinfo's UK editor, suggests: "Stokes to break the glass straight after tea? Feels like he's been saving his spell up."
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Robinson vs Khawaja, Round II
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Thumped
Cameron Green is making his presence felt. Anderson overpitches with a half-volley outside off stump, and Green takes a big stride towards the ball, crunching it over mid-off on the up. His partnership with Khawaja is worth 37 in 11.1 overs and Australia are favourites again, with tea 10 minutes away.
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50 for Khawaja
143 Balls for Usman Khawaja to reach his half-century
Khawaja has played within himself this afternoon but has ground out a second half-century of the match, bringing it up by gloving a short ball down to fine leg for a couple. His is the wicket that England really want: it feels like Khawaja being there at the close will only lead to one result.
Sampath Bandarupalli tells me that the last Australian opener to make a century and a half-century in the same away Ashes Test was Mark Taylor back in 1989. Here's the proof.
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Head falls to Moeen - again
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Moeen is clearly still struggling with his spinning finger and starts his first spell of the day with a pair of drag-downs, which Head puts away. But as he starts to find his groove, he draws a false shot from Head which skews into the off side via a leading edge - then dismisses Head for the second time in the match as he pokes an offbreak to slip. Game on!
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A bit of spice
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Khawaja's slow start
11.11 Khawaja's strike rate in his first 36 balls this afternoon
Usman Khawaja has been very patient this morning, defending, leaving and dead-batting almost every ball that has come his way. He's added just four runs in the first 55 minutes of play and Australia are struggling to keep the scoreboard ticking over.
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c Bairstow b Broad - again
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Broad takes his third wicket and Bairstow snaffles his fourth catch as Boland edges behind, and England opt for an unsubtle short-ball plan to Travis Head: no slips as he walks out, but three men out on the pull in the deep on the leg side. He stands tall to defend into the off side, but Broad completes a wicket maiden.
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Shouldering arms
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Boland's strong start
3 Test runs Boland has scored against anyone other than England
Scott Boland loves batting in the Ashes. He has 19 not out in this innings as nightwatch and has scored 43 of his 46 Test runs against England. As things stand, he averages 14.33 against England, and 1.00 against everyone else.
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Balls beats bat
Anderson gets one past the outside edge for the first time today in the third over of the afternoon, nibbling one away from Khawaja to beat his defensive push. The crowd have suddenly come to live after a subdued start and are getting into the game, chanting Anderson's name as he wanders over to square leg to stand in front of the Hollies.
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Five out of five
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Anderson: England 'trying to do something special'
James Anderson has been speaking to the BBC's Test Match Special:
"I think we will still set attacking fields. Even yesterday the field was up. We want those catchers in play if the chance comes. What we are asked to do is entertain and send people home happy, and we have done that for four days. If we don't do that so be it.
"Nobody will be more disappointed [than us] if we don't win. The process has not been worrying about the outcome. We are trying to do something special. We have made the running for four days and in control. We need seven wickets to win a Test match and if it doesn't come off, it doesn't."
"I think he [Moeen] is sore but he'll bowl definitely. We have a 10-day break for it to recover and heal. We need a push from him to go through the pain barrier. We do need him and it is turning out there. I think he's sore but should be able to bowl."
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A Decent shout?
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England's funky fields
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2.15pm restart
Good news! The dark clouds have cleared and the skies are much brighter than they were an hour ago, with England's players kicking a football around on the outfield and Jonny Bairstow doing some wicketkeeping drills on a practice strip. The umpires have inspected the pitch and have confirmed that play will start in 45 minutes' time.
There are 52 overs remaining - plus the last hour (15 overs) - with tea due to be taken at from 4.30-4.50pm.
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Inspection at 1.20pm
The covers are being peeled back, and it looks as though we'll get some cricket before long. The umpires will take another look in 20 minutes' time.
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Boland or Starc?
Andrew McGlashan at Edgbaston: Regardless of how this Test plays out, Australia probably only have one decision to make ahead of Lord’s – fitness issues permitting – as they did before this match, and that’s the identity of the third fast bowler.
England have taken Scott Boland to task during this match. In a game where he has bowled more than 20, this is comfortably his highest economy rate (5.65) and the second highest of his career without qualification. So does Mitchell Starc come back into the frame for Lord’s?
It may not be a straightforward decision, because Boland could be an ideal bowler for the ground, able to take advantage of the slope. But if he is going to be expensive, then the point-of-difference provided by Starc may be just as useful – and he would strengthen the lower order a little.
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Some activity
The rain appears to have stopped but it's still pretty wet out there. There's a lot of standing water on the covers and the super-soppers are in operation, but it's cold and still so it might take a fair while for conditions to improve to the point of being playable. We can, in theory, resume in about an hour's time from now - but that will rely on the rain staying away for the next while.
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05 vibes?
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Lunch at 12.30pm
CONFIRMED: The players will take an early lunch at 12.30pm. The start has officially been delayed and the earliest they'll get on will be 1.10pm. It's still drizzling but six groundstaff are sweeping some of the standing water off the covers.
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A delayed start
It's a grim, wet morning in Birmingham and it's hard to see how we'll get much play - if any - before lunch on Day 5. The full covers are on and the skyline is only just visible through the mizzle at the City End. It's been raining for several hours and a clean-up operation will take a little while as and when it does stop.
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A damp start
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Australia need 174, England need seven wickets as epic day five looms
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With two catchers under the lid to stalk his every move, Boland nearly snicks off to Broad's lifter third ball, then gets turned inside-out by the inswinger but eludes the cordon for four precious runs. Another inswinger is more confidently prodded off the back foot to short leg, and he sees out the day as Broad fires a wider yorker through to the keeper.
WHAT. A. DAY. This contest has lived up to every drop of the pre-series hype, and the final-day equation could not be more delicately poised. Australia need 174 runs, England need seven wickets. And the weather... promises to be a wee bit on the dank side. Advantage England after that Labuschagne/Smith double-whammy? Frankly, who knows with this sport any more!
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Moeen returns to the action
Moeen Ali's patched up and thrust back out there for one final over, with three men round the bat and Usman Khawaja possibly thinking twice about going gung-ho here... the main benefit is that it buys Broad one final over, and Stokes even wants to give him the single to tempt him back into the firing line. Instead, it's Boland to face the final six balls of the day...
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Broad once again!
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It's the humungous wicket, and it's the humungous man for the moment! Stuart Broad finds some tail back into Steve Smith's pads, and immediately his tail is up. Smith is turned inside-out by a big inswinger that scuffs his outside-edge to save him from lbw, which then doesn't carry to the keeper. But the next effort does! Smith drives hard with stuck feet, not dissimilar to Flintoff's dismissal of Ponting at a similarly critical juncture in 2005. And Bairstow scoops it up! The two big fish gone in the space of 12 Broad balls, and Edgbaston roars as Scott Boland arrives as the nightwatcher...
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Broad strikes
13 Runs in the match for Marnus Labuschagne
Broad gets his man again! He dismissed Labuschagne in the first innings with a telegraphed outswinger, and gets him with his fourth ball to him in the second. This one doesn't swing in the air at all but nips away just enough off the seam to take the outside edge as Labuschagne chases a ball on sixth stump. Kevin Pietersen calls it a "huge technical flaw" on Sky commentary.
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Warner falls
Ollie Robinson strikes. The seam is scrambled and there's not a whole lot of deviation off the straight, but Warner is a moment late in his defensive shot and gets a faint outside edge through to Bairstow - who clings onto this one. England have their first wicket, and need nine more.
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Standing out
Khawaja and Warner's partnership is already bigger than any stand England put on in their second innings.
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Letting it slip
0 The number of successful slip catches in the first three innings of this Test
England have a single slip and an umbrella field as Robinson bowls to Khawaja, as if to prove just how slow this pitch is. There have been seven caught-behinds, three stumpings and a catch in the gully - but none taken in the cordon.
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'Broady's gonna get ya'
That's the chant from the Eric Hollies Stand to David Warner, but he's started solidly enough against his old sparring partner. He's faced 15 balls from Broad and negotiated the majority without any issue - though did play-and-miss at one delivery in Broad's fourth over which drew a loud appeal from keeper and cordon.
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A frantic start
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10 runs off the first over, as Khawaja pulls a back-of-a-length ball away fine for four. One delivery later, Anderson finds his outside edge - but neither Bairstow (keeper) nor Root (first slip) goes for it, and the ball flies away between them for another boundary.
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Earliest ball change ever?
A bizarre interlude as England walk out after tea with a new ball, only to change it moments later before a single delivery has been bowled. Anderson was held back until first change in Australia's first innings but will take the new ball in this run chase.
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Predicton time
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Tea: Australia need 281 to win
Anderson fences Cummins behind and Carey takes a good one-handed catch, tumbling to his left. Cummins and Lyon share eight wickets to dismiss England for 273, and we're in 2005 territory with the target.
63 Runs added by England's last four wickets, compared to the 14 that Australia managed in their first innings.
Will those lower-order runs end up being the crucial factor - or will we end up looking back at England's first-evening declaration?
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Anderson reaches double figures
"That might be the shot of his career," says Ricky Ponting, approvingly, on Sky Sports as Anderson skips down the wicket and crunches Boland through the off side for four. After reverse-sweeping his first ball for four, he is now the ninth England batter to reach double figures in the second innings - though none of them have reached 50.
As Alan Gardner points out, this is the first time that Anderson has made it to 10 since the second Ahmedabad Test of March 2021.
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Robinson holes out
Robinson has played a useful innings for England but these two shots don't reflect too well. Cameron Green is prowling in the deep, just in off the rope at long-on, and Robinson skips down to loft Lyon down the ground. Green cuts it off, running to his left and slapping the ball back as he jumps over the rope, and hardly has to move a ball later as Robinson swings one down his throat. Lyon has eight in the match - one more will equal his nine on this ground four years ago.
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Hazlewood strikes!
Cummins brings Hazlewood back for only his eighth over of the innings, and he gets Moeen out with a short ball. That's always been an area where Australia have look to target Moeen: he usually takes it on and can't resist this time either, gloving his pull shot behind to Alex Carey. England are eight down and their lead is a precarious 236.
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Australia's big two
36 Overs bowled by Lyon and Cummins, out of the first 54
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Robinson promoted
Ollie Robinson walks out at No. 9 to some boos from the touring Australian supporters in Block 31 of the South Stand, after some incendiary comments in his press conference last night. He's been promoted above Stuart Broad, meaning that England only have one left-hander for Lyon to bowl at, rather than two.
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Captain gets captain
Pat Cummins is into the fourth over of his spell with a defensive field: he gave himself six men out on the boundary with Stokes motoring after lunch, but gets him out playing a defensive shot. He is struck on the pad pushing defensively at a nip-backer from around the wicket and his review can't save him, with ball-tracking predicting the ball would have clipped leg stump.
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Bairstow falls
Lyon has a third, Bairstow trapped lbw on the reverse-sweep. It took Marais Erasmus a good couple of seconds to give him out on-field but the DRS vindicated his decision, with ball-tracking predicting that the ball would crash into leg stump.
13 Overs Lyon has bowled unchanged from the Birmingham End
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Stokes on the charge
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Ben Stokes was becalmed before lunch, looking for some red-ball rhythm after a long break without an innings of note, but has upped the tempo since the break. In Pat Cummins' last over, he skipped down to flog him through wide mid-on - then back-cut him away through backward point.
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Where's this game heading?
Andrew McGlashan reports from Edgbaston:
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Lunch: England 155 for 5
2.5 England's run rate in the 10 overs before lunch
A superb over from Scott Boland before lunch nearly accounts for Bairstow, who is given out lbw but manages to overturn the decision on review. The next ball is another beauty which beats Bairstow and thumps him on the back pad, but Ahsan Raza gives it not out and Cummins opts against the review. This has been a compelling, enthralling session and Australia have edged ahead of the game.
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Brook falls
Australia have done a good job of drying England up since Root's dismissal and Harry Brook has pulled straight to Marnus Labuschagne at short midwicket while trying to break the shackles. His partnership with Stokes ends on 21 off 51 balls, illustrating just how well Hazlewood and Lyon have done in turning off the taps.
All of a sudden, England have lost half their side and are only 157 ahead.
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A rare maiden
Hazlewood to Stokes:
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Ben Stokes has hardly faced a ball in a competitive scenario in the last four months, and starts watchfully against Hazlewood - who dismissed him in the first innings. He plays out the first maiden of Day 4.
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Lyon gets Root
Nathan Lyon strikes in his fourth over of the morning, as Joe Root runs past one on 46. It's his fifth wicket of the match - and three of those have been stumpings.
Alex Carey had completed two stumpings in his first 20 Test appearances, and now has three in four days. He's one away from equalling the Australian record in men's Tests.
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A rapid start
6.88 Runs per over for England before drinks on Day 4
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Brook gets after Lyon
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13 Runs conceded by Nathan Lyon in his first over of the fourth day
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Picture perfect
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A magic ball
A stunning 86mph/139kph yorker from Pat Cummins accounts for Ollie Pope, tailing in late to rip out his off stump.
An extraordinary delivery which demonstrates that Australia have got this ball swinging - and gives them a much-needed breakthrough after a partnership of 50 in 47.
There wasn't much Pope could have done about that, but it does extent his poor record in the second innings: he averages nearly 50 in England's first innings through his Test career, but just 16.56 in their second innings.
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Root on the reverse
The first nine balls of the morning:
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Joe Root tries to reverse-ramp the first ball of the morning off Pat Cummins over the slip cordon, and nearly gets an edge through to Carey! A high-risk option to start things off - and a sign of England's mindset heading into this fourth day.
Three balls into the second over, with Carey standing up to Boland, he goes again - and gets this one away for six. And then once more, to pick up four more! Cummins feels obliged to post a fly slip, meaning there's nobody between short third and extra cover on the off side - so Root threads one through cover-point to pick up a couple more.
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Ponting responds to Robinson
"My phone lit up with a few Australian journalists wanting a comment on what Ollie had said in his press conference," Ponting says on Sky. "Some of these English players have had terrific starts to their careers but we'll find out more about them as this series goes on. Definitely, Ollie will be reminded of that... [but] the ones that seem least fazed by this whole thing are the Australian players."
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Robinson faces fine
Ollie Robinson could face a sanction - most likely a fine and a demerit point - from the match referee after giving Usman Khawaja a send-off yesterday, telling him to "F*** off, you f***ing prick".
But he defended his actions in a punchy press conference last night, saying he didn't care how they might be perceived by the Australian dressing room, that he was "here to provide... that theatre of the game" and suggesting that Ricky Ponting - among others - had set a precedent for his reaction to dismissing Khawaja.
Allan Border, speaking on SEN Radio overnight, said that Robinson could expect a few choice words from Australia: "What goes around comes around," he said. "He’s put a bit of a target on his head. When he comes out the bat - hopefully it’s early [on Monday] - and the Aussies won’t forget that’s for sure.”
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Stumps
England 393 for 8 declared and 26 for 2 trail Australia 386 (Khawaja 141, Carey 66, Robinson 3-55, Broad 3-68)
Australia took two wickets for two runs in a compelling 22-ball micro-session between rain breaks to edge ahead in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston, as England lost both openers within four balls of one another.
England resumed their second innings on 26 for 0 after a 75-minute delay, with thick, dark clouds hanging over the floodlights. Only 20 minutes of play were possible before another thundery shower brought the day to a premature close, but that was enough time for Pat Cummins and Scott Boland to remove Ben Duckett and Zak Crawley respectively.
Duckett looked longingly at the groundstaff moments before his dismissal, who were getting the hover-cover ready on the midwicket boundary as the rain drew closer. As his focus returned to Cummins at the top of his mark, he pushed away from his body at a ball in the channel outside his off stump, and Cameron Green swooped low to his left to add another brilliant gully catch to his extensive collection.
Crawley had been worked over by Boland in the previous over, twice struck on the pad by good length balls that nipped in off the seam. He was forced to play at the first ball of the next one, drawn forwards to defend another in-ducker, and his thin edge flew through to Alex Carey. For the first time in the Test match, Australia’s bowlers were the protagonists.
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Another inspection
It's still grey and damp at Edgbaston but the umpires will return at 6pm for another inspection, which will likely be the final one of the day.
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The rain continues to fall
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Back off for rain
22 Balls between rain breaks, in which England lost 2 for 2
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Two in four balls
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These are perfect seam-bowling conditions, with thick, dark clouds overhead and the floodlights on. Australia are exploiting them brilliantly.
Three balls after Duckett pokes to gully, Crawley is forced to play at Scott Boland and his thin edge is gobbled up by Carey behind the stumps. Every ball is an event at the moment, with regular plays-and-misses, and England are under real pressure here.
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Stunning catch!
Cameron Green is surely the best gully fielder in the world and has just taken a screamer there to remove Ben Duckett. It's another nothing shot from Duckett, fiddling at a ball in the channel outside his off stump, but his thick outside edge flies fast and low to Green. He swoops low to his left and takes it just above the ground - no controversy about this one, despite a longish wait for the TV umpire's decision.
That's three hangers at gully in the last week:
Ajinkya Rahane, The Oval
They have dropped easy ones, but Green has now pulled off a ripper at gully. This is short of a length, has some width, the field is up, Rahane has a punch at it, gets a thick edge, and Green dives to his right, sticks the big mitt out, and catches it clean as a whistle. The ball is past the line of his body when he takes it. You beauty. End of a terrific knock, but that century on Test comeback is not to be.
They have dropped easy ones, but Green has now pulled off a ripper at gully. This is short of a length, has some width, the field is up, Rahane has a punch at it, gets a thick edge, and Green dives to his right, sticks the big mitt out, and catches it clean as a whistle. The ball is past the line of his body when he takes it. You beauty. End of a terrific knock, but that century on Test comeback is not to be.
Shubman Gill, The Oval
Green takes another screamer! Left hand this time! Gill stands his ground. The umpires send it upstairs. The third umpire is checking for a fair catch. This was a good length and it bounced a touch extra, Gill jabbed at it with hard hands. The edge flew low to Green's left, he flings his huge left hand out and plucks it clean, but then his hand brushes the ground as he falls to the ground. The question for the third umpire is did he have full control over the ball. It looked fine. He had his fingers under it between the ball and turf. Out is the decision.
Green takes another screamer! Left hand this time! Gill stands his ground. The umpires send it upstairs. The third umpire is checking for a fair catch. This was a good length and it bounced a touch extra, Gill jabbed at it with hard hands. The edge flew low to Green's left, he flings his huge left hand out and plucks it clean, but then his hand brushes the ground as he falls to the ground. The question for the third umpire is did he have full control over the ball. It looked fine. He had his fingers under it between the ball and turf. Out is the decision.
Ben Duckett, Edgbaston
Got him, what an incredible gully fielder Cameron Green is! Length ball in the corridor, straightens on Duckett, and he offers a bit of a loose response, hanging his bat out, looking for a lazy off-side push. Thick edge, and Green dives low to his left to grab it. Just as in the case of his second-innings catch of Shubman Gill last week, the umpires send it upstairs, but this time it's very clear that Green has wrapped his fingers nicely around the ball by the time his hand hits the turf.
Got him, what an incredible gully fielder Cameron Green is! Length ball in the corridor, straightens on Duckett, and he offers a bit of a loose response, hanging his bat out, looking for a lazy off-side push. Thick edge, and Green dives low to his left to grab it. Just as in the case of his second-innings catch of Shubman Gill last week, the umpires send it upstairs, but this time it's very clear that Green has wrapped his fingers nicely around the ball by the time his hand hits the turf.
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Good news!
The ECB say we'll be back on at 3.30pm with tea due to be taken at 5pm. We've lost nine overs, and can play until 7.30pm.
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No change
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Rain: England 26 for 0
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Spin early
111.06 Ben Duckett's strike rate against spin since his Test recall. He's also averaged 65.25 against spin in that time
Nathan Lyon is into the attack in the sixth over, with three men out on the rope. Duckett deftly paddles him through fine leg for England's first boundary of the innings, and his battle against Lyon is already shaping as an important subplot this afternoon.
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Are England in Australia's heads?
Andrew Miller, UK editor: Right. We're a tenth of the way through the Ashes, and nominally speaking, there's seven runs between the teams. But, Alex, as everyone knows, Bazball is all about the psychological stakes. England potentially left 50-plus runs out there with an Alpha declaration, and had they been able to catch / keep their feet behind the line, that lead would surely have been far bigger. Are Australia alright with how this has panned out so far?
Alex Malcolm, Australia associate editor: Yes and no. They'd be looking at the scoreboard and seeing a seven-run deficit and be both comfortable and frustrated. They too bowled and caught poorly. They have also left plenty of runs on the table. Not by choice but more so by getting sucked into England's mindgames.
That said, they have still drawn level with the No.1 and 2 batters in the world contributing 16 between them and the tail contributing as many as Jimmy Anderson, who didn't bat. But they did put 116 overs into England's bowlers in a series where depth and endurance is important. So they will be comfortable with that. Would England have taken a seven-run lead when they declared?
Miller: England are never more comfortable than when they turn any given Test into a one-innings shoot-out, and given that that performance maintains their record of claiming every available wicket in every innings of the Bazball era, they'll be perfectly content - Moeen's hurty finger notwithstanding.
Because, and this is the thing that fascinated me about the declaration in particular, England have not blinked one iota now that the Ashes has arrived. If anything, they've ramped up the belligerence and forced Australia to adopt a position that Alastair Cook called "un-Australian" on the first day. And had the late, great Shane Warne said that, it would have been one of the most damning put-downs ever uttered.
This is my question. Can the Australian psyche accept Beta status throughout a five-Test series? I'm conscious the media in particular Down Under has been on their case of late for being too woke and new-age. Will there be an expectation back home that they give it back, rather than fall back on the rope-a-dope tactics that our old colleague Dan Brettig alluded to on day one?
Malcolm: It's a great question. The psyche of the Australian diaspora probably can't. But this team can. The team itself has been battered by their own fans and media at times since Justin Langer left as coach. But they actually don't care. Usman Khawaja is a case in point. He won't care that his century took twice as long as Joe Root's. They don't care that they had four men on the fence in the 11th over of the first innings and England had seven around the bat at the same stage.
Australia won in Pakistan just as England did in 2022, but they did it with a mindset of playing a 15-day Test and won 1-0. They don't care that England won 3-0. They will treat this is a 25-day marathon. They haven't blinked yet but they definitely have looked sideways early. It's a proper fire-and-ice battle. Australia do believe that if they keep their egos in check, they can win out.
Miller: England by contrast, will probably be looking at a 15-day sprint... it's fair to say, it's quite the clash of cultures in store, one way or another!
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The tail implodes
Vish Ehantharajah at Edgbaston: That felt quite dumb from Australia at the end there. Ben Stokes will rightly get the plaudits for his innovation - the use of his bowlers, the plans in place - but there didn’t really feel a compelling reason for Australia to play ball with any of it. Especially when Khawaja and Cummins were doing such a good job of keeping them quiet.
Khawaja's dismissal - walking down the pitch to access the area down to third man and losing his off stump - typified the whole thing. The sole purpose of the six men in catching positions in front of him was basically just to freak him out a bit and, in the end, the centurion opts for a rogue, high-risk shot.
England did not so much break his reaction as distract him with some high-school s***housery, like pulling their ties really tight so it becomes almost impossible to untangle. It was all a bit childish. And it worked perfectly.
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All square?
Andrew McGlashan at Edgbaston: For a while that was a slow-burn session, but it came to life as England rattled through Australia’s lower order. As so often, it was all eyes on Ben Stokes’ tactics and some extraordinary fields. There was a ring of close catchers in a semi-circle in front of Usman Khawaja when he advanced at Ollie Robinson and was yorker for a magnificent 141. It was terrific theatre.
Khawaja’s innings was the longest (in terms of balls faced) by an Australian opener in England since Matthew Elliott’s 199 at Headingley in 1997. It was also the fourth time he had faced more than 300 balls since returning to Test cricket.
Then England’s short-ball approach, well-executed by Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson, did for the tail although Pat Cummins played a useful hand at No. 8. So, after two innings, it’s basically all square.
Sampath Bandarupalli: This is the 10th time in a men's Ashes Test that the first-innings lead/deficit has been seven runs or fewer.
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Australia 386ao
England lead by seven runs on first innings.
Australia have lost their last four wickets for just 14 runs and England will have a chance to build a substantial lead this afternoon - if the rain stays away. Alex Malcolm flagged last week that Australia's tail have struggled to contribute of late and this has been a tame end: Lyon was out hooking, Boland prodded a short one to silly point and Cummins hoicked Robinson out to Stokes in the deep.
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The short ball does the trick
How often has Nathan Lyon walked out to bat in a Test match without a slip in sight? It can't have been often, but England's funky field works almost straightaway. He takes on the short ball and hooks it straight down the throat of Ben Duckett at deep backward square in front of the Hollies Stand - who gleefully serenade Lyon off the field. Australia trail by 16 with two wickets left.
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Khawaja falls
Usman Khawaja is applauded off after being bowled by Ollie Robinson for a magnificent 141. Stokes was getting funkier and funkier, with three short midwickets and three catching covers by the time Robinson made the breakthrough.
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England go short
Australia keep chipping away at the deficit, and Ben Stokes is setting increasingly creative fields for his quicks.
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Moeen's sore finger
It's clear that Moeen Ali is struggling with his spinning finger on his return to red-ball cricket after 21 months away. He has been fined for using a spray on it, and has let a couple of juicy full tosses slip out this morning, one of which Pat Cummins heaved away for six over the leg side.
Speaking at Lord's last week, Graeme Swann - who, like Moeen, used to hold the ball on the first knuckle of his first finger and the second knuckle of his second finger - flagged that re-adjusting to the red Dukes ball could be an issue for him after a long period of using the white Kookaburra.
"My one concern is the difference between bowling with the red Dukes ball and the white Kookaburra," Swann said. "There is a major difference. It is harder to bowl with a red Dukes ball: it is not as easy to grip, it is smaller.
"That might be an issue, just getting enough overs under the belt to be confident. The red ball can be almost slightly greasy: it has a wax on it and can be a bit tricky to get used to again."
Meanwhile, Sampath Bandarupalli has dug this stat out:
Most sixes conceded by a bowler in an Ashes innings:
8 - Moeen Ali, Birmingham 2023 (Inns #2)
6 - Jim Laker, Leeds 1948 (Inns #2)
6 - Graeme Swann, Adelaide 2013 (Inns #1)
6 - Graeme Swann, Perth 2013 (Inns #3)
8 - Moeen Ali, Birmingham 2023 (Inns #2)
6 - Jim Laker, Leeds 1948 (Inns #2)
6 - Graeme Swann, Adelaide 2013 (Inns #1)
6 - Graeme Swann, Perth 2013 (Inns #3)
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Robinson's odd boots
Ollie Robinson is wearing an Adidas boot on his left foot, and a New Balance boot on his right - hat-tip to the Telegraph's eagle-eyed Will Macpherson for that one.
A closer inspection shows that he was wearing a pair of New Balances at the start of Saturday's play, then changed into a pair of Adidas ones before adopting this unusual mix-and-match combination. He slipped on his right ankle in his delivery stride in the final over on Day 1, and hasn't looked quite right ever since.
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Australia's long tail
If your biggest issue as a Test side is that your tailenders aren't contributing with the bat, you're probably in a pretty good spot. But it has become a bit of a problem for Australia in recent times, and with no Mitchell Starc in their side this week, it's a long tail than usual.
Alex Malcolm delved into this subject last week and spoke to Peter Siddle, who contributed some very handy runs here in 2019, about it. "As the years go by and there's more T20 cricket played, the lower-order players want to be able to whack the ball and clear the ropes," Siddle said.
"They're going away a little bit from the basics of hanging in there, having a good solid defence, keeping everything tight and valuing your wicket."
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Anderson gets Carey
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Carey takes Anderson for back-to-back boundaries, but is bowled by the nip-backer. Wobble-seam from Anderson, and the ball darts in off the seam to beat him on the inside edge and clatter into the stumps. Sixty-six valuable runs for Carey but England are now into Australia's bowlers, and still more than 50 runs in front.
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Moeen fined
BREAKING: Moeen Ali has been fined 25% of his match fee and handed a demerit point on his return to red-ball cricket at Edgbaston, after spraying “a drying agent on his bowling hand” on the second day of the first Ashes Test.
An ICC media release said that Moeen had committed a Level 1 breach of their Code of Conduct and that one demerit point has been added to his disciplinary record. It is his first demerit point in the last 24 months and he will not be suspended unless he accumulates three further points in the next two years.
Moeen is returning to Test cricket after an absence of nearly two years and bowled 29 overs on the second day, taking 2 for 124. He has not bowled in a red-ball match since September 2021 and ESPNcricinfo understands that he has a small blister on his spinning finger as a result of the increased workload.
During the 89th over of Australia’s innings, Moeen was seen spraying a substance from an aersol can onto his bowling hand while fielding on the boundary, before bowling the following over. The ICC said he had defied “the umpires’ pre-series instruction about [players] not using anything on their hands without prior approval”.
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Another catch down
Jonny Bairstow had a tough day behind the stumps on Saturday and has shelled another chance in the first over of Sunday morning. Alex Carey shaped to drive James Anderson through the off side but got a thick inside edge and while this was not a regulation chance, diving low to his right, Bairstow will be disappointed not to have taken it.
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Dry, but for how long?
It's a warm, humid morning in Birmingham and the forecast suggests that we are unlikely to get a full day's play in, with showers scheduled for this afternoon.
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Khawaja, Carey get Australia through
Usman Khawaja and Alex Carey can walk off very satisfied with their work. They have given Australia a chance of getting level with England and maybe even taking a lead on the third day. It's been a day to remember for Khawaja, unbeaten on 126, his first Test century in England.
Meanwhile, Carey has continued the excellent start to his tour with the bat after the two important innings he played in the World Test Championship final. England may yet regret their missed chances today, the two by Jonny Bairstow - the stumping offered by Cameron Green second ball and an edge from Carey - and Stuart Broad's no-ball.
It's certainly been a contrast in batting styles, but Australia have not exactly been slow. Only a brave person will call it from here, but things are a lot better for the visitors than it looked at 67 for 3 when Steven Smith fell.
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New ball, same problems
Nothing much has changed for England with the new ball. The pitch is still easy-paced, and Khawaja and Carey have been patiently putting away the occasional loose deliveries, finding the gaps in Stokes' attacking field at will. Carey crunches Robinson - who has looked a little off-colour today - away through extra cover for four, and the deficit is under 100 as we head into the final stages of the day.
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Broad oversteps
13 No-balls bowled by England in this innings
Broad takes the second new ball and clean-bowls Khawaja with his second delivery - but the TV umpire spots that he's over-stepped, so Khawaja gets a reprieve. Broad was watching the big-screen replay intently, then turned to Anderson at mid-on; Anderson held out his thumb and forefinger, only slightly apart, as if to suggest it was a very marginal call.
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Khawaja: second to none
Shiva Jayaraman: Usman Khawaja may be just the fourth-best Australia batter according to ICC’s latest ranking of Test batters, but his contribution to Australia’s batting since his return to Tests has been second to none. And that’s literally so – Khawaja has contributed just over 19 percent of Australia’s runs since January 2022. That’s more than any other batter to have played at least 15 innings in this period from any team.
The reason Khawaja manages such a high contribution despite the presence of the top-three ranked ICC batters in his side is his excellent away form. Since 2022, Khawaja has scored more than 1000 runs outside Australia at an average that will end up above 67.5 at the completion of this innings. No batter has scored more runs in away Tests since January 2022. The next most prolific batter in away Tests in this period has been Joe Root, who has 802 runs in an equal 19 innings at an average of 44.55.
Khawaja will end up averaging more than twice Marnus Labuschagne - the No. 1 ranked batter according to the ICC - in away Tests since 2022 by the time he's done in this innings.
An incredible moment at Edgbaston as Khawaja reaches his first Test hundred in England. As he cuts Stokes away for four he roars in celebration, races down towards the Pavilion End and flings his bat away. You'll rarely see a player show more emotion on a cricket pitch.
Khawaja now has hundreds in Australia, India and England in 2023 - an incredible achievement for a 36-year-old player whose performances away from home have regularly come under scrutiny during a long and winding career.
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Moeen strikes
Cameron Green could have fallen second-ball to Moeen Ali, only for Jonny Bairstow to fumble the stumping chance. But he eventually falls to his 68th, beaten by an absolute jaffa which drifts away slightly, then spins in sharply past the inside edge of the bat as Green prods forward to defend.
"I’ve never been able to hold an end up," Moeen admitted earlier this week, but his recall owed to balls like that which can turn the course of Test matches.
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Khawaja on the pull
32 Runs Usman Khawaja has scored with his pull shot, which he has played 11 times per ESPNcricinfo's ball-by-ball data.
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A fast start after tea
27 Runs in the first four overs after tea.
Ben Stokes and Moeen Ali are being put under pressure here by Cam Green and Usman Khawaja: a boundary in each of the first four overs after tea. Jonny Bairstow is doing his best to encourage Mo from behind the stumps. "You're the man here, Mo," he tells him.
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Tea: Australia 188 for 4
Andrew McGlashan at Edgbaston: Things are intriguingly balanced. England only managed one wicket that session but it was an important one in Travis Head who was starting to motor with another of his counter-attacking innings.
Usman Khawaja has been very solid. It’s 10 years since he first toured here for Test cricket and this is just his second fifty-plus score. It’s been an innings to resemble some of those he has played on the subcontinent in the last two years – on a surface more akin to those than what may be termed a traditional English pitch.
England tried a period of short-pitched bowling to both Head and Khawaja – something Australia didn’t do yesterday – and though there were a few uneasy moments the pitch largely gave time to adjust.
There was potentially a big moment straight after Head’s dismissal when Cameron Green used his feet to Moeen Ali and was beaten, but Jonny Bairstow couldn’t gather the stumping. Green has played circumspectly since, seeing out a testing spell from James Anderson where he kept a very straight line with a ring of catchers in front of the bat.
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Green gets moving
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No boundaries for Cameron Green in his first 41 balls, but two in his next four as he takes on Joe Root's offbreaks in the over before tea. He belts him over mid-off then drives through cover, then inside-edges him into the leg side as he looks to go again on the stroke of the interval.
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Anderson returns
There's a subcontinent-style field for James Anderson as he comes in for only his eighth over of the day. With Green on strike, there is a slip, a gully, two short covers and two short midwickets.
Josh Hazlewood said last night that this slow, dry pitch looks like something you might encounter in South Asia or at the SCG, and this is the sort of plan you might use if you were expecting the ball to reverse.
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A life for Green
Cameron Green comes charging down the pitch to his second ball of Ashes cricket in England and misses the ball completely, as Moeen finds some sharp turn with his offbreak. But Bairstow makes a mess of the stumping, perhaps seeing the ball slightly late behind Green's substantial frame.
Cue debate as to whether England have picked the right keeper - though fitting Ben Foakes into this side would have required them to leave out one of their main batters.
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Moeen removes Head
Moeen is into his 15th unchanged over from the Birmingham End, a long spell that has spanned the lunch break. Head and Khawaja looked at ease against him, thumping him down the ground, but Stokes kept the field up.
Head skipped down, looking to swing Moeen over the leg side - but could only pick out short midwicket. Moeen celebrated by turning and pointing to Stokes, who opted to keep Zak Crawley in tight rather than offering him protection.
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Head reaches 50
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Head goes from 41 to 50 in three balls, hooking Robinson for four and then cutting him away behind square on the off side. It's the fifth time he's reached a half-century in 15 innings against England - and he's converted two of those into hundreds.
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Go short to Head?
Percentage of balls from England's seamers to Travis Head that have been short
England clearly watched India's seamers give Head a working-over with the short ball during his hundred at The Oval. They have set a 3-6 field to him, with a short leg in and two boundary-riders behind square on the leg side, and have banged it in halfway down.
He got into an awkward position facing a short one from Ollie Robinson, which looped up to Anderson at gully via his forearm. England bizarrely reviewed the on-field not-out decision, and replays showed that it struck him right in the arm guard, nowhere near his bat.
Over in which Australia reached 100. England did so in the 21st.
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Khawaja reaches 50
A decade on from his only previous half-century in England, Usman Khawaja reaches his second with a gentle push into the covers off Moeen Ali.
He's scored quite freely off Moeen so far, scoring 19 runs off the 22 balls he has faced from him - including a straight six, back over his head, a couple of overs ago.
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Seven bowlers in a session
Over when England introduced their seventh bowler, Joe Root.
Sampath Bandarupalli from ESPNcricinfo's stats team in Bangalore informs me that in the last 20 years, only three teams have introduced their seventh bowler earlier than England did today:
26th over - WI vs SA, St John's 2005
28th over - WI vs ZIM, Bulawayo 2003
30th over - SA vs BAN, Mirpur 2015
31st over - ENG vs AUS, Edgbaston 2023
28th over - WI vs ZIM, Bulawayo 2003
30th over - SA vs BAN, Mirpur 2015
31st over - ENG vs AUS, Edgbaston 2023
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England's morning
Andrew McGlashan at Edgbaston: Stuart Broad. David Warner. Marnus Labuschagne. Harry Brook. Ben Stokes. The storylines were overflowing on the second morning at Edgbaston.
For a while it appeared Australia had restored some order to their innings after Broad’s two-in-two sent him on a lap around the ground and the Edgbaston stands into a frenzy. David Warner can’t extract himself from the hold Broad has over him, ending in a very ugly position as he lost all shape on a drive, and Labuschagne was done by the ‘new’ outswinger.
But Usman Khawaja and Steven Smith settled as the sun burnt through the clouds which had brought a little early rain. However, with lunch approaching, Stokes brought himself on for just his second bowl since the New Zealand (and that was a single over at the IPL) and in his second over struck one the biggest blows: Steven Smith, who had made 16 off 59 balls without a boundary, pinned lbw playing back.
Stokes put everything into the appeal and eventually Marais Erasmus raised the finger. Smith reviewed, height looked margin. But then the DRS showed three reds. Smith could barely pull himself from the crease.
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Slow, and not that steady
Australia have scored at half the rate England did yesterday, and the primary reason for that is that England found it incredibly easy to rotate the strike. The difference in the number of boundaries that the teams hit in the morning sessions on Day 1 and 2 is not huge - but look how few singles Australia have managed, and how many dots they have seen out.
Stokes has not bowled a competitive over since April 3, when Kyle Mayers tucked into him at the IPL, and has not bowled one with a red ball since mid-February. His left knee has been heavily strapped in training over the last week and the fact he is a little rusty is underlined by a front-foot no-ball to start his spell.
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Khawaja gets moving
Usman Khawaja has a poor record in England, with a single half-century in his 14 previous innings here. He started a little tentatively this morning, but has played with a little more intent in the last couple of overs.
A rifled pull shot off Robinson was the pick of his shots. "That wasn't short at all," Michael Vaughan said on the BBC's Test Match Special. "Khawaja is just trusting the bounce and that really shows how there's no pace in the pitch."
In the following over, he uses his feet and lofts over Stokes' head at mid-off - but nearly gets himself in a tangle a ball later, jamming down late to keep a quicker ball out which skids through low.
Brook gets an over
Goodness me. Ben Stokes makes a change from the Pavilion End, and brings on... Harry Brook, to bowl his gentle swingers with two short midwickets.
Brook spoke about his bowling in the build-up to this Test, after he was spotted having a trundle in training three days out from the start of the game. "I was thinking I could potentially try and bowl some offspin in the Hundred last year," he said, "and then when we're on a green one, try and bowl some seamers."
Brook dismissed Kane Williamson in New Zealand earlier this year, strangled down the leg side for his only Test wicket to date. "It's obviously an option for Stokesy if the other boys are knackered... but obviously I'm not going to be bowling many overs. I might just bowl one or two, only if the other boys are tired to get through to the new ball."
His over of mid-60s mph dobbers, with Bairstow up to the stumps, yields a solitary run as Smith plays watchfully.
Smith back in the groove
Steven Smith leaves the hat-trick ball well alone and is back in the groove in his first Test innings in England for four years, with even more exaggerated movements than usual. He has been getting in some very unusual positions early in his innings, perhaps to minimise the lbw threat: "He's keeping his left leg a long way outside the leg stump," Ricky Ponting observes on Sky Sports.
Two in two!
Stuart Broad stands at the top of his mark and revs up the crowd, gesturing to the Eric Hollies Stand after Marnus Labuschagne makes him wait, asking someone to stop moving behind the sightscreen.
He steams in and unleashes the ball he has been talking about for the last two months - an outswinger specifically designed for Labuschagne and Smith, to try and drag them across the crease.
Labuschagne chases after it, playing away from his body, and gets a thick outside edge through to Bairstow, who sprawls low to his right and takes a brilliant catch. Broad races away towards deep point in celebration and the crowd erupts. Pure theatre.
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Broad gets Warner!
15 Times Stuart Broad has dismissed David Warner in Test cricket
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A quiet start
3 Maidens in the first three overs on Day 2. There were only two across Day 1.
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Blue for Bob
Saturday is the Blue for Bob day, with fans encouraged to donate to the Bob Willis Fund for prostate cancer research and awareness. To learn more and to donate, click here.
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Joe Root has been speaking to the BBC this morning about his 30th Test hundred - and his first in the Ashes since 2015: "I think, rightly or wrongly, I've been carrying a lot of weight off the back of the last tour to Australia," he said. "I felt like I owed a bit to the team and the group to go out and put in a performance against them.
"That's one thing that gets overshadowed in this team: everyone sees the explosive and exciting passages of play but there are moments in games where you have to absorb a little bit of pressure, and I think we did that well."
On his reverse-scoops for six off Cummins and Boland, Root explained: "There was a little bit of method behind it. Looking at the fields, it felt like they were lower-risk options than they could have been at different times. You sitll have to make sure you execute well but I was confident that they were good options at the time."
He admitted he was "a little bit" surprised by the timing of England's declaration, but added: "We want to keep moving the game forward, finding way of driving us into strong positions. We're still in a great position where we turn up today and it's overcast. We'll go out there and throw everything at Australia."
A bowling day?
Some early thoughts from Andrew McGlashan:
The overhead conditions are adding a different dimension to things today and we wait to see what impact they have on batting. The consensus from the Australia camp last night was that this was going to be a tough surface to go through a side twice – although it’s worth noting that one of the traits of this England side has been finding a way to take 20 wickets.
“Probably attacking batting brings in a few modes of dismissal,” Josh Hazlewood said. “If you bat normally or have to shut up shop towards the end of a game for a draw then it will be hard work to get wickets… if batters play normally, I think it will be quite hard to get the 20 wickets.”
Covers off
Better news: the covers have been peeled back and the hover-cover is off the strip. England are kicking a football around on the outfield and the umpires are wandering out to have a look at the pitch. As it stands, we should start on time.
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A damp start
Good morning from Edgbaston, where... it's raining. It's a fairly light drizzle at the moment - but enough that the full covers are on, and the Sky Sports team have their umbrellas up on the outfield.
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Australia reach stumps unscathed
For the first time since West Imdies at Lord's in 2009, James Anderson does not take the new ball in an England home Test (on the occasions he's been playing, of course ... and you'll never guess who did take the new ball back then ...)
It's Ollie Robinson to apply the funk, for two tidy but unthreatening overs... except to himself, that is, after he loses his footing in delivery stride and comes close to wrenching his ankle.
But Australia see it off without undue alarm, and it's 14 for 0 at the close, still trailing by 379. I think the terms of engagement have been established today!
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First-day declarations ...
Sampath has crunched the numbers, and a Baz-flavoured theme emerges
Fewest overs batted before declaring the 1st innings on day one:
44.5 PAK (130/9d) v ENG, Lord's, 1974
58.2 ENG (325/9d) v NZ, Mt Maunganui, 2023
76.0 SA (259/9d) v AUS, Adelaide, 2016
78.0 ENG (393/8d) v AUS, Birmingham, 2023
78.3 SA (309/9d) v ZIM, Gqeberha, 2017
58.2 ENG (325/9d) v NZ, Mt Maunganui, 2023
76.0 SA (259/9d) v AUS, Adelaide, 2016
78.0 ENG (393/8d) v AUS, Birmingham, 2023
78.3 SA (309/9d) v ZIM, Gqeberha, 2017
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Broad to Warner
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... could it have been any other way? Three slips, a ring in the covers to cut off that push-drive. He wants to get off strike first-ball but Khawaja is having none of it. He tries again fourth-ball and Khawaja has to sprawl for his crease! Nerves everywhere! And eventually, off the final ball of a frantic over, he nails his drive to the cover boundary. Crumbs!
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England have declared!
The maniacs! What's not to love? Twenty minutes to unleash on Australia with the new ball and a properly revved-up Hollies Stand. Root has a hack at the final over, from Nathan Lyon, connects with two sixes and a two, either side of a reverse-dab for four from Ollie Robinson, and trots off with an unbeaten 118 to his name, as Stokes - in his bucket-hat, natch - sticks up a hand and hauls them in. What frolics!
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Root has his hundred!
He's done it with a trademark dink off his pads, a loud shout of "yes!", a punch of the air and a standing ovation from an enraptured Edgbaston crowd. It's his 30th in Test cricket, his fourth against Australia, and his first in Ashes cricket since 2015... when, coincidentally, he had a pretty stellar series...
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Two stumpings on Day 1
Sampath Bandarupalli has been digging into the data on stumpings, and tells me that this is the first time since 1934 that two batters have been out stumped on the opening day of an Ashes Test.
It's only happened once before on the first day of an Ashes series: when Percie Charlton, Kenny Burn and Arthur Shrewsbury were all caught short of their ground at Lord's in 1890.
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Punch, counter-punch
Shiva Jayaraman: The century stand between Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow that followed the wickets of Harry Brook and Ben Stokes was an example of a key feature of England’s batting in the Bazball era. Their attacking batting even when they have lost a wicket or two cheaply has often pushed oppositions on the backfoot and haven’t allowed the bowling teams to dominate.
England’s top order (first six wickets) has lost two successive wickets in an innings for 10 or fewer runs 33 times since June 2022, but they have counterattacked with a century stand on seven out of those 33 occasions. England have been able to put together a fifty-plus stand 15 times from these situations.
Their scoring rate of 4.8 runs after such setbacks in nearly a run more than the next-best team. No other team comes close to these numbers. New Zealand are the next best in such situations: they have put together 10 fifty-plus stand from an equal 33 instances, but their scoring rates lean more towards the attritional side, at 3.1 runs an over.
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Live and die by the sword
Moeen charges down looking to swing Lyon back over his head - even with long-on and long-off on the rope and is stumped by a mile. That's the 10th time that Lyon has dismissed Moeen in Test cricket and his fourth of the innings.
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Moeen launches Lyon
Moeen Ali skips down the ground to swing Nathan Lyon over mid-on for four and Australia respond by pushing the fielder back to long-on. That means that on his return from the T20 world to Test cricket, Moeen is met with a T20 field: one slip, three men within 30 yards of the bat, and five boundary-riders.
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Lyon gets his man
The drop isn't costly! Bairstow skips down looking to launch Lyon down the ground but is done in the flight, and Carey whips the bails off. Lyon has unusual figures of 3 for 97 in 20.4 overs - which he would probably have taken at the start of the day.
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A life for Bairstow
Bairstow is going hard at almost everything now, and his strike rate is just a shade under 100. He gets a thick outside edge looking to drive Hazlewood through cover, but the chance is put down by a sprawling Carey. England are reaping the rewards of their aggression, with Green the only slip catcher.
100 stand
Joe Root and Jonny Bairstow have brought up a 100-run stand in the blink of an eye. This is their 11th 100-run partnership in Test cricket - the fourth-most of any partnership for England.
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Bairstow tucks in
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Jonny Bairstow scampers back for two to bring up a breezy half-century in his first Test innings since his leg break last year, then nails Lyon for four, past short leg on the sweep. He takes Lyon for his second boundary of the over by skipping down to loft him over Cummins at mid-off - and would have a third but for Labuschagne wearing one on his foot at short leg, taking evasive action.
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Where's Cummins?
We're into the 58th over of the day but Pat Cummins has still only bowled 10 - four in his first spell, three in his second and three in his third. He's standing at mid-off as Nathan Lyon whirls away and will surely have another bowl tonight, but why has he not used himself more?
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Who have you got?
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Tea: England 240 for 5
Andrew McGlashan at Edgbaston: We thought it might be, but it’s proving a little hard to make sense of all this at the moment. Five wickets by tea on the first day is good reward for Australia, but England are still motoring along.
When they removed Harry Brook and Ben Stokes in quick succession there was a big chance for them to take a firm grip on the game. Brook’s dismissal was bizarre although perhaps he could have been more aware to where the ball was going; still, there’s irony to Brook of all England’s Bazball batters falling effectively padding up.
The Stokes wicket, however, was worthy reward for Josh Hazlewood who has been excellent on his return. He tempted Stokes into the drive – although he probably didn’t much tempting – by keep the ball full outside off. But you only need to look at the economy rates of Australia’s attack to know that this hasn’t been a normal start to an Ashes.
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Root on the reverse
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Joe Root is given out lbw by Ahsan Raza, reverse-sweeping Nathan Lyon for the second ball in a row, but reviews within half a second of the finger going up and replays confirm that he got plenty of glove on it. As if to prove he's completely unfussed, Root then gets down to play exactly the same shot to the following ball - and whacks it for four.
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Root passes 50
Joe Root hasn't scored an Ashes hundred since August 2015 - is today the day that streak ends? This is his 13th half-century against Australia since then.
Sampath Bandarupalli tells me that this is his fifth consecutive 50-plus score - the second such streak in his career after six in a row between 2014 and 2015.
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One brings two
9 Balls taken for England to slip from 175 for 3 to 176 for 5
All of the talk around Ben Stokes over the past four months has centred on his fitness to bowl, but it has perhaps been overlooked just how little he has batted in that time period, with two single-figure scores at the IPL his only innings since England's second Test in New Zealand back in February.
He made a skittish start, nearly dragging-on a reverse-sweep against Nathan Lyon when facing his third ball, and edged his eighth behind off Josh Hazlewood, who gave him a tough examination angling the ball across him.
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A bizarre dismissal
'Brook b Lyon 32' doesn't even begin to tell the story. "Catch it!" is the cry as the ball loops up off Brook's thigh pad, having shouldered arms late to Nathan Lyon. Alex Carey loses sight of it and can't get underneath it, but Brook has no idea where the ball is. It lands on the back of his leg, and deflects into the stumps.
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A maiden!
Hazlewood to Brook in the 37th over - the first maiden of the Ashes summer:
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Head drops Brook
Australia's deep point has been either side of square today, starting some way behind square before moving towards a cover-point at times. Travis Head threw his hands up in confusion between deliveries when Brook back-cut Boland for four and then two, unclear as to exactly where he should have been.
Right on cue, Brook top-edged a shorter ball out towards him, again looking to cut. As it happened, Head was exactly in line with the shot - but couldn't pick it up out of the Hollies Stand, and spilled what turned out to be a difficult low chancing, tumbling forwards. A life for Brook on 24.
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Brook vs Lyon
Harry Brook was in a punchy mood two days out from the first Test when discussing his approach against Nathan Lyon, and has taken him on after lunch as he said he would.
With the field spread on the leg side and minimal protection on the off, Brook shimmied outside leg stump to the eighth ball of his innings to loft Lyon inside-out over the covers - and would have picked up four more with an exquisite straight drive but for an excellent diving stop by Pat Cummins at mid-off.
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England tick over
Shiva Jayaraman: This is the third time since June 2022 that England haven't allowed a maiden to be bowled in the first session of a Test; previous instances - Rawalpindi, Mount Maunganui. No other instances from the other teams since then.
Australia have a third on the stroke of lunch, Zak Crawley falling caught behind off Scott Boland after a review shows that the ball brushed his glove. Here are the thoughts of Andrew McGlashan as the players head off for lunch:
Australia had talked about doing things a bit differently with their fields in this series (rather than massively changing their bowling plans) and they lived up to that on the opening morning. Deep backward point was out for the first ball, but that didn’t stop Zak Crawley driving powerfully through the covers.
It really was a strange sight to see what could be classed as very defensive fields: in the third over they had three men on the rope for Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon started with four boundary-riders. But this looks a very flat and quite slow pitch. We’ll need see Australia’s tactics for a longer period of time before making a proper judgement, but England have certainly been able to milk the bowling.
However, Scott Boland's strike with the final ball of the session was a huge moment and three wickets inside 27 could make the case for that being Australia's session.
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England's busy first 20
England are 96 for 2 after 20 overs - and bring up their 100 two balls later. On a very good batting pitch, the first 90 minutes of the day have resembled a one-day game, with an in-out field and England knocking the ball around for singles.
Eoin Morgan on Sky says: “I’ve been shocked in many ways at how defensive they’ve been with the fields that they’ve set.”
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Lyon gets Pope
An excellent review from Pat Cummins sees the back of Ollie Pope. Pope started a little nervously but had grown into his innings, threading the penultimate ball of the 18th over for four through straight mid-off off Nathan Lyon.
But Lyon's next ball cramped Pope for room as he looked to whip it away off the knee roll through square leg, and Lyon pleaded with umpire Ahsan Raza for the lbw. Raza turned it down - not unreasonably, since it looked at first glance as though it might have pitched outside leg stump - but ball-tracking showed it was just in line, and Pope trudges off!
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Crawley gets away with one
Goodness me: Crawley looks to whip a good-length ball from outside off over the leg side, and the extra bounce takes everyone by surprise, Carey taking it above head height. Australia don't even appeal for the caught behind, but Ultra-Edge shows that Crawley nicked it! His face tells a story:
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Crawley and Pope add 50
This is the 14th time that Zak Crawley and Ollie Pope have batted together in Test cricket, and the first time they've brought up a 50-run stand. Those partnerships read: 4, 13, 1, 10, 34, 11, 19, 29, 26, 22*, 2, 35, 16, 53*.
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Carey comes up
Michael Vaughan suggested in the build-up to this series that England would try to play Scott Boland "like a spinner" and while he beat the bat in his first over, Boland has struggled to get the ball to move off the straight. He is the slowest seamer in Australia's attack, and the fact that Carey feels comfortable standing up to the stumps gives you another indication that this pitch is very slow.
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Spin early
Nathan Lyon comes on in the 10th over, with four boundary-riders: deep third, long leg, forward square leg and long-on. It will be fascinating to see how England play him in this series - and Ollie Pope gives an indication, reverse-sweeping his third ball out to the sweeper behind square on the off side.
Zak Crawley plays exactly the same short to his fourth ball, again picking up a single. Pat Cummins has been happy to spread the field in the early stages to maintain some control; those two shots would have cost eight runs with a more orthodox field. But Crawley then drills the final ball of the over through wide mid-off, and Lyon's first costs seven.
Sampath Bandarupalli tells me: Since 2001 - when we have full ball-by-ball data - this is just the third time a spinner has bowled within the first ten overs of an Ashes Test. All three times, it was Lyon bowling the 10th over - MCG 2013, Cardiff 2015 and Birmingham 2023.
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Duckett falls
Josh Hazlewood strikes early. If Duckett has shown one area of weakness since his recall to the England set-up nine months ago it is this: he is slightly cramped for room on the cut to a ball in the channel outside his off stump and feathers behind to Alex Carey.
Perhaps that is the value of the man at deep backward point? Duckett wasn't fully committed to the cut shot, and maybe the presence of the fielder on the rope meant that he was only looking to steer it for a single rather than to pick up a boundary.
Carey had to take that catch very low down, and the early signs are that the pitch only fits half of the "fast, flat" description that Ben Stokes asked for two months ago. Mike Atherton on Sky describes it as "a bit of a featherbed".
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What's the point?
Australia have started the day with a deep backward point, as increasingly many teams are doing in the early stages of white-ball games. The idea seems to be to offer some protection - and in Josh Hazlewood's first over, Crawley cuts one out to the man there.
Ricky Ponting is commentating on Sky Sports, and says immediately that he's "not a huge fan of the deep backward point... Yes, the bad ball might get cut. But you’ve got to protect your good balls to build pressure," he says. "If the scoreboard continually ticks over, batsmen never feel under pressure at all."
As Ben Duckett tucks a boundary off his pads through square leg, another man goes out - from short midwicket to deep backward square leg - and there are now two slips, a gully and the boundary-riders (at point, fine leg and square leg) in the third over of the day.
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What a difference 18 months makes
2021/22, First Test, The Gabba
Starc to Burns, OUT: Knocks him over first ball! Full yorker which crashes into the base of leg stump. Burns is nowhere, falling over to the off side as he looks to clip off the pads. Angled into the left-hander from over the wicket, but this actually tailed away late and sharply to hit the base of leg stump. What a start from Starc!
Starc to Burns, OUT: Knocks him over first ball! Full yorker which crashes into the base of leg stump. Burns is nowhere, falling over to the off side as he looks to clip off the pads. Angled into the left-hander from over the wicket, but this actually tailed away late and sharply to hit the base of leg stump. What a start from Starc!
2023, First Test, Edgbaston
Cummins to Crawley, FOUR runs: Thumped on the up through cover-point! What a shot! Decent length, a lot of width, he strides out and climbs into an amazing cover drive on the up!
Cummins to Crawley, FOUR runs: Thumped on the up through cover-point! What a shot! Decent length, a lot of width, he strides out and climbs into an amazing cover drive on the up!
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Black armbands
Both teams are wearing black armbands in memory of Barnaby Webber and Grace O'Malley Kumar, the cricketers who lost their lives in Nottingham this week. There is a moment of silence before the anthems in their memory.
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No Starc
Andrew McGlashan: Everyone remembers how Mitchell Starc began the last Ashes (although did it count, if the series was void?). Well, he won’t get the chance this time having been the quick bowler to miss the cut. Pat Cummins was asked about the impact of that delivery yesterday.
“Particularly Starcy, leading into that series there was a little bit of conjecture on his spot," he said. "We all know how good he is and how well he was bowling, but just that pressure release of that first ball, taking a wicket, setting up the whole series.
"It was my first ball as captain so takes a little bit of the nerves off as well. It was just one of those iconic Ashes moments that every series seems to have a couple of. I know Harmison still probably cops grief for his first ball so if I’m bowling I might give it to someone else down the other end so I don’t create a memory.”
What will the first ball bring this time?
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England win toss and bat
England are batting. This is the first time that Ben Stokes has won the toss and chosen to bat in a home Test - though he did it twice in Pakistan in December 2022. "It looks a really good cricket wicket, so obviously a good toss to win. Now we're going to go out and put some runs on the board," Stokes says.
Australia have picked Hazlewood over Starc in their only change from the WTC final. That means a longer tail, with Pat Cummins due in at No. 8.
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Smith: I view crowd as 'white noise'
Steven Smith got a hostile reception here four years ago as he returned to Test cricket after his Sandpapergate ban, and his arrival at the crease will doubtless be met by a few jeers today.
He told Sky that he won't be paying much attention to it: "I blank it out. I think I did it well last time we were here - white noise, I suppose they call it. I don't really recognise that anyone is there, if that makes sense. It enables me to go about my business."
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Stokes tells Edgbaston: You're part of it
"As an England cricketer, there is always something very special about being part of an Ashes series and I know Australia feel exactly the same," Ben Stokes writes in his programme notes. "We are the lucky ones because we get to live these moments out in the middle, but if you're here at Edgbaston, reading this, you're part of it as well. We want to make this summer a memorable one for every one of you.
"Edgbaston is a wonderful venue and has one of the best atmospheres in the world game. It's a great place to play when you've got three lions on your shirt. When the opposition walk out onto the pitch, they won't need reminding that they're in our backyard."
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Stokes gets ready
While the rest of his squad kick a football around on the outfield, Ben Stokes is having a bowl on a practice pitch under the watchful eye of David Saker, England's fast-bowling coach. He has a heavily-strapped left knee and his fitness is a saga that has run for months, and will continue to over the next six-and-a-half week.
He declared himself fit yesterday - but we will find out over the next few days whether he is ready to play a full role as a genuine allrounder, or just enough to fill in when the main quicks are flagging.
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Who joins Cummins in Australia's pace attack?
Australia have declined to follow England's lead in naming a team before the toss and there has been a great deal of speculation around which seamers will play alongside Pat Cummins (and the allrounder Cameron Green).
Scott Boland has marked his run-up, which suggests he will retain his spot and intriguingly, Mitchell Marsh - whose last Test was in 2019 - has also been spotted with the tape measure. Josh Hazlewood has just wandered out and marked his own run-up, which indicates he will be the third seamer.
Marsh would be a left-field inclusion and represent a change in balance to the side that played the World Test Championship final, barring an injury to Green. Alex Malcolm, our Australian assistant editor, suggests it might be a case of: "Bison being Bison. Would have done it deliberately to get a reaction."
Andrew McGlashan: If Starc doesn't play here, as appears likely, will be the first Test he has been left out (as opposed to being injured) since The Oval in the 2019 Ashes. He also missed the corresponding Test four years ago when Australia went with Peter Siddle and James Pattinson alongside Pat Cummins.
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It's here
After months of build-up, the first Test of the 2023 Ashes is finally here. It's a beautiful sunny morning at Edgbaston, and the toss is 45 minutes away. Let's do it.
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