David Warner won his first Ashes battle against Stuart Broad after England surprisingly declared late on Thursday during the opening day of the first Test at Edgbaston.
Australia will resume at 0-14 on Saturday with Warner unbeaten on eight and his opening partner Usman Khawaja on four in reply to England’s at times frantic 8-393 from just 78 overs, thanks to an unbeaten 118 from Joe Root.
Usman Khawaja (pictured) and David Warner negotiated a tricky final few overs for Australia after England’s declaration.Credit: Getty Images
Broad bowled the first over of Australia’s innings to Warner who, unlike the 2019 tour, hit every ball well, but twice created uncertainty with Khawaja given Warner’s eagerness to get off the mark. He eventually opened his account with a lovely cover drive to the boundary and repeated it in Broad’s next over.
Already Warner has passed most of his scores from four years ago, when his second-highest total in 10 innings was 11.
England’s ultra-attacking approach may have done the Australians a favour when captain Ben Stokes declared after the Australians were challenged on the field by Bazball and off it by former international captains for the team’s defensive tactics.
With Root motoring and the tail batting comfortably against a tired attack on a flat pitch, England could have scored any number of runs and then dragged the Australians into the field again on Saturday.
Instead, Australia could bat for two days in ideal conditions and set up a comfortable lead, although they have a long tail, having left usual number eight Mitchell Starc out for regular number 11 Josh Hazlewood.
Nathan Lyon was the glue that held Australia together, claiming 4-149 from 29 hard-bitten overs.
For all the excitement of blazing half-centuries from the elegant Zak Crawley (61 from 73 balls) and Jonny Bairstow (78 from 78 balls) in an excellent return to Test cricket from a badly broken leg, Root played sensible Bazball. His innings included dabs, drives, flicks and reverse sweeps, including two remarkable sixes scooped off the pace of captain Pat Cummins and Scott Boland over the slips.
Joe Root celebrates his century on day one.Credit: Getty Images
In these increasingly unconventional times, former greats lined up to criticise the Australians for their tactics, which may have had merit but did not accurately reflect an absorbing day of ebb and flow. There were 407 runs scored for the day.
To Australia’s credit, every time they looked like being blasted out of the game they claimed a wicket until Root got away, but also gave up an extraordinary number of singles, including 54 in the first session alone. This made it easy for batsmen to get off the mark and rotate the strike.
In tactics more reminiscent of one-day cricket, they had four fielders on the boundary for much of the day after England captain Ben Stokes won the toss and batted first for the first time in England on his made-to-order perfect batting pitch.
“They’ve gone defensive straightaway,” Ricky Ponting said in commentary. “I must admit, I’m not a huge fan of that deep backward point as a starting option. Cummins’ best ball is too easily scored off there as far as I’m concerned.
“Yes the bad ball might get cut, or square driven through backward point. But you’ve got to be able to protect yourself, protect your good ball and keep the batsman on strike. If the scoreboard continually ticks over, batsmen never feel under pressure at all.”
Kevin Pietersen was the most critical, saying the field looked like it was set for two batsmen who had already made a hundred.
“You feel like Australia have set fields based on the pre-series talk. There has been a lot of chatter about England’s approach. Australia have got it wrong. But from an English perspective, it’s fantastic to see Australia so defensive,” Kevin Pietersen said on air.
Mark Taylor was also critical of skipper Pat Cummins’ first-morning fielding tactics, saying he was far too defensive in the face of English aggression, while former England World Cup-winning captain Eoin Morgan claimed he was “shocked.”
“It’s been interesting, particularly the tactics from Australia,” he said on Sky Sports. “I have been shocked in many ways by how defensive their fields have been, as they haven’t done it before. They have been the first to blink.”
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