“Isn’t it interesting?”
This is the famous line uttered by Russell Crowe with his character Maximus Decimus Meridius in Gladiator, questioning why the audience reacted so subdued after such a dramatic show.
There was certainly nothing to silence the reactions of England and Australia fans on a frenetic day in the latest Ashes match.
The public watching on television in Perth and around the world were reasonably entertained. The pre-game excitement was even greater than that. This was Test cricket on fast forward, even by England standards.
England captain Ben Stokes took five wickets at Optus Stadium to reduce Australia to 123-9 after the tourists were rolled out for 172.
Nineteen wickets fell, including one wicket in England’s first innings and one wicket in Australia’s first innings.
Five of those 19 were taken by England captain and talisman Ben Stokes. There were also five ducks – Australian debutant Jake Weatherald had one, as did England’s best batsman Joe Root – and there were plenty of ducks flying as the seamers were shaken.
Australia’s Mitchell Starc scored seven goals on his own, England’s Quicks attacked Australia with 90mph potential up front, then relied on Stokes to dispatch the lower middle and back, sharing nine breakthroughs in between.
England lost their last five wickets for 12 runs and were torpedoed for 172 runs, with their batting not getting too hot at times, with fluffy drives and mindless attacks on short balls.
The dimensions of Australia’s ground mean they won’t be able to score six points as easily as England, so they may have to continue to maintain that aggressiveness with the ball being hit as they aim to fashion scores to keep them in the game.
If they can reach that part-total, as we saw in the final session of the first day and a bit, they will have one of the fastest bowling attacks Australia has ever assembled, and they will be able to crush an insecure Baggy Greens batting line-up.
Previous English teams may not have been able to recover from such a devastating blow. This is not it.
As Stokes makes his mark, wickets fall.
The pace of Jofra Archer, Mark Wood, Gus Atkinson and Brydon Kearse rocked the home side – a wicketless Atkinson flashing Steve Smith’s forearm – while when a partnership began to blossom from 31-4 between Cameron Green and Travis Head, they had a pretty good idea who would break it. captain.
We haven’t seen Stokes at his best in Australia since he scored his maiden Test hundred at WACA in Perth in December 2013. He missed the 4-0 drubbing in 2017/18 after the incident at Bristol and battled injury during the 4-0 drubbing in 2021/22.
But this is probably Stokes’ peak now, especially when it comes to his bowling, and his last solid challenge for Ashes glory overseas.
Stokes waived Cameron Green, Alex Carey, Mitchell Starc, Travis Head and Scott Borland on Friday.
He looks fitter than ever after returning from a shoulder injury and it doesn’t take a mastermind – Steve Smith feels Monty Panesar never does – to realize that Stokes is crucial to England’s hopes in the coming weeks.
On Friday, he didn’t need a magical delivery to secure a wicket, but it would have been felt that his aura forced Travis Head, Cameron Green and Alex Carey into loose shots that they might not have been able to do against bowlers without his presence, his grunt and reputation as a game-changer.
Stokes was a box office hit, and so was this series’ opening day. If there were any concerns that Cricket might not fit in with the pre-series jive, those were quickly dispelled.
And there’s still plenty of drama and intrigue in the days and matches ahead.
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Australia’s stand-in captain Steve Smith went on a bizarre rant about former England spinner Monty Panesar’s appearance as a mastermind when addressing the media ahead of the first Ashes Test.
Will Root get his first Ash ton Down Under – and if he does, will the Western Australian newspapers reconsider their claims that he is average? Will Smith and Panesar ever speak again?
How much cricket will Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood play? Will England’s pace attack last until the end? Is there ever a game that lasts 5 days?
It seems very unlikely that this opening Test will last five days after the wicket-crowded first Test. Ash is back. Ash is great.
I’m sure you enjoyed it.
Ashes Series in Australia 2025-26
always UK and Ireland
1st Test: Friday 21st November – Tuesday 25th November (2:20am) – Optus Stadium, Perth 2nd Test (day/night): Thursday 4th December – Monday 8th December (4am) – The Gabba, Brisbane 3rd Test: Wednesday 17th December – Sunday 21st December (11:30pm) – Adelaide Oval 4th Test: Thursday 25th December – Monday 29th December (11.30pm) – Melbourne Cricket Ground 5th Test: Sunday 4th January – Thursday 8th January (11.30pm) – Sydney Cricket Ground
