Root century but it’s honours even after Day 1 at Edgbaston
Ashes Day 1: Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Ashes Day 1: Edgbaston, Birmingham.
Friday 16th June 2023
England 393–8 declared
Australia 14–0 (trail by 379 runs)
It’s been a strange 24 hours or so in this game we call life for your favourite cricket correspondent. Since my last journal entry I’ve walked far too far on a singular walk along the canals of central England, watched a befuddling film that I’m either going to retrospectively love but fear I’ll continue to hate and The Ashes, after all the fanfare and English pomp and ceremony, is finally underway. With the teams split by 379 runs after the first day’s play you could argue England have tipped the early balance in their favour and with the runs on the scoreboard, that argument would have some merit. I’m falling squarely in the honours even category as Australia are the greatest Test Match playing team in the world, they have all 10 1st innings wickets still in hand overnight and they’ve already dealt with England’s first “dig” with the bat and restricted them to less than 400 on 1st innings.
A brilliant day’s Ashes cricket. Honours even.
But before we return to the beginning of the day’s play we must go back to the future of the past 24 hours and my first 10+ mile canal walk of the Summer, a film that completely unnerved me, and the reason why we’re all here in the first place. Last Summer’s canal walks were peppered with double digit miles walked in a day with my infamous hitch hiking aboard a canal boat to Llangollen not included in the 16 mile round trip that I don’t think my feet have forgiven me for yet. Much like now as I hobble around with all the agility of the tin man from the Wizard of the Oz in a desperate need for an oil change. Stourton was beautiful, and so was Bratch Locks, but I’ve visited these places on the Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal many times before so I knew what to expect. I just wasn’t expecting, or was match fit for, the miles in between and a canal walk I hadn’t undertaken until yesterday and today, my calves and lower legs resemble two stiff pieces of willow ready to crash cricket balls to all parts of any cricket ground you care to name.
The film I allude to above is entitled Beau is Afraid (directed by Ari Aster) and in the masterful hands of marquee star Joaquin Phoenix there’s an incredibly intriguing film wrapped around a nightmarish horror which leans on religion, a mother’s love, death, regret, guilt and is yet an absurdist, surreal odyssey of the path of time and life that immediately invokes the twisted horror of Darren Aronofsky’s Mother! from 2017 or Paul Thomas Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love from 2002. I found it insufferable, nerve shredding and I missed every piece of supposed comedy in the film as all I could think of writing in my trusty notebook was a sub-title for my review of the film, namely:
“A 3 hour panic attack with Joaquin Phoenix”.
You think they’ll put this brief and pithy review on the movie posters?
Anyway, The Ashes is underway, the first day has ended with honours relatively even, and here are the day’s three sessions of play:
Act One
Aussies edge morning session with a “snorter”
England 124–3 at Lunch
18 months ago, England opening batsman Rory Burns lost his leg stump to a Mitchell Starc “yorker” at Brisbane with the first ball of The Ashes and yet more magical fairy dust was liberally sprinkled upon this grandest of sporting fixtures. Stories surrounding the first ball of an Ashes Series are legion, just ask Australian opening batsman Michael Slater or England fast-bowler Steve Harmison. Scrub that. Don’t ask Steve Harmison. He’s probably still having nightmares of bowling to 2nd Slip in Brisbane in 2006! But today Zak Crawley, a batsman I have long trumpeted to be a huge success for England as an opening batsman, crunched Pat Cummins first ball of the series fizzing through cover for a boundary 4 and a tone was seemingly set as well as this eagerly awaited series well and truly underway.
Crawley would begin and indeed end the opening session of the day but with the bittersweet contrasting fortunes of smashing a boundary from the morning’s first ball to receiving a cricketing “snorter” from Scott Boland on the cusp of the Lunch Break that would signal both his downfall for a well played 61 runs from 73 balls received as well as the break for lunch and rather than England resting on 124–2 and edging the opening session, his wicket, and England’s 3rd top order wicket to fall in the morning, shaded the session for Australia.
Prior to gloving Boland’s unplayable delivery into the safe hands of Alex Carey behind the stumps (the glove man from Loxton in Australia would claim 5 of the 8 English wickets to fall today including 2 easy stumpings), Crawley had led England to a relatively healthy 124 runs at the Lunch Break after seeing his in-form opening partner Ben Duckett tamely edge a catch through to Carey with the score on 22 and Ollie Pope “trapped” LBW (Leg Before Wicket) on the crease by the bowling of Nathan Lyon with the total on 92. Crawley’s dismissal immediately before the session break in play was cruel on the 25 year old from Bromley in Kent and just tipped the early balance in power in favour of the visitors but, perhaps crucially as the series develops, the young man has another Ashes half century under his belt and healthy early runs in the scorebook.
Act Two
Yorkshire grit evens the afternoon score
England 240–5 at Tea
The hosts added a further 116 runs in the afternoon session for the loss of Harry Brook, unluckily, for 32 and their captain Ben Stokes for a reckless 1. With Joe Root unbeaten at the Lunch Break, he remained 66 not out at the Tea Break after 50+ run partnerships with both Harry Brook and Jonny Bairstow, all three Yorkshiremen to their very core. Whereas Bairstow would join his great childhood friend not out at the afternoon session break on 33 not out, 24 year old Harry Brook showed no signs of Ashes nerves as he scored a typically aggressive run-a-ball 32 before falling to perhaps the most unluckiest of ways of losing your wicket. Fending off a delivery from Nathan Lyon that “lifted” off the wicket, every close-in Australian fielder shouted for a possible catch of a ball that had looped out of everyone’s eye-line before landing at Brook’s feet and gently spinning back into his middle stump. Incredibly cruel on the young man but he had to go, 8 balls later his captain Ben Stokes followed him and their collective team were 176–5 and tottering on the brink of collapse. The steady hands and Yorkshire grit of Root (66) and Bairstow (33) guided England to a more respectable and arguable level game after two sessions of play of 240–5.
Act Three
Root the centurion but Warner and Khawaja hold firm
England 393–8 declared. Australia 14–0
When Joe Root walked to the wicket this morning England were 92–2.
When he left the wicket this evening he was unbeaten on 118 not out and the team has used to captain and often had to carry single-handedly on the back of his Hall of Fame batting prowess, declared their 1st innings on 393–8. Quite simply, the Yorkshireman had seen 6 wickets fall for just over 300 runs in his stay at the crease and with time running out on the day’s play, Ben Stokes declared the innings to have a 15 minute “dart” at the Australian opening batsmen. One of the ever pleasing aspects of Test Match cricket, England simply couldn’t lose and were playing with the house’s money whilst Australia had everything to lose, especially the prized wickets of David Warner, Usman Khawaja and perhaps Marnus Labuschagne. That they didn’t evens the score on the day’s play but that’s getting ahead of ourselves.
Whilst Root compiled a completely risk free and serene 118 not out, Moeen Ali, Stuart Broad and Ollie Robinson contributed a combined 51 runs to the team total in addition to the third Yorkshireman of our trio today, Jonny Bairstow, who took his Tea Break not out total of 33 through to 78 before being stumped by Alex Carey off the bowling of Nathan Lyon, the off-spinner ending the innings with figures of 4 wickets for 149 runs. Bairstow, fully justifying his selection ahead of the very unlucky Ben Foakes, accelerated through the batting gears in his 121 run partnership with Root but where he perished for 78, Root caressed 7 boundary 4’s and 2 reverse scoop boundary 6’s on his way to an unbeaten century, his 30th in Test Match cricket, before ending the innings unbeaten and 118 not out.
With the runs on the scoreboard England have perhaps just shaded the opening day’s play but it would be so minimal, at this stage, as to easier score it an even day all around. But with a “featherbed” and a “batting paradise” of a wicket, the actual score and state of the game could well be even come the end of play tomorrow, but that’s the magic of Test Match cricket. If Stuart Broad or Jimmy Anderson get on a wicket taking roll in the morning, England could find themselves ahead, albeit so early in the match, come late afternoon tomorrow. Should David Warner, Steve Smith or Travis Head emulate Joe Root and crash a century in tomorrow’s Birmingham sunshine, then Australia may well find themselves heading into Day 3 with a minimal lead, but with wickets in hand.
Regardless, Michael Atherton (“Athers”) and Ricky Ponting (“Punter”) opened on TV commentary here in England, followed by Nasser Hussain and Kevin Pietersen as well as the Australian duo of “Captain Grumpy” Ponting and fellow former captain Mark “Tubby” Taylor. I’m excitedly pleased to report that the 2023 Ashes Series is up and running and we have the prospect of a humdinger of an opening session in the morning.
Postscript
“The Uno Ashes”
Dad 4 (4)
Lad 6 (6)
After racing into both a 2–0 and 3–1 lead, I pegged back my son with 3 game wins on the bounce to lead 4–3 before he too won 3 games on the spin to end our first day of the Uno Ashes with a 6–4 lead. Suffice to say he wasn’t best pleased as I reeled off 3 consecutive victories! But he’s the kid on form at this particular card game and this minor distraction allows for his cricket mad father to watch as much of this Ashes Series as possible. Aggregate scores will continue throughout the Summer with our next tussle scheduled for Day 3 on Sunday.
Thanks for reading. I will be publishing a daily journal from each and every day of The Ashes this Summer and until then, here are my three most recently published cricket articles to get you in the swing of things:
Ashes Preview
English Revolutionaries or Australian World Champions?medium.com
Relentless and Ruthless: Australia, Test Match Champions of the World
Day 5, World Test Championship, The Ovalmedium.com
Welcome to the Pleasuredome! Final day shoot-out to decide World Test Champions
Day 4, World Test Championship, The Oval.medium.com